ellipsis

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ɛlˈliːp.sɪs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [elˈlip.sis]^[1]

Forms

ellīpsis f (genitive ellīpsis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἔλλειψις (élleipsis, “omission, falling short”).^[2][1][3] The Greek is from ἐλλείπω (elleípō, “to fall short, leave out”).^[4] Its native Latin equivalent was dētractiō.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Quintilian uses it of the omission of a word.^[2][5] Köbler dates Quintilian about 35–95/96 AD.^[7]

Semantic evolution

It was a grammatical and rhetorical term for leaving out a word needed to complete the sense.^[2] Priscian uses per ellipsin, “by ellipsis”, and the scholia on Juvenal have the spellings ellimsis and enlipsis.^[6][8]

In medieval Latin it meant elision and omission, and by confusion with eclipsis also an eclipse or disappearance.^[9] Wiktionary also gives the sense “ellipse”.^[1] English ellipsis is recorded in the 1560s for the geometrical figure, and later in grammar.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it.^[2][7]
• 6th century AD – Priscian uses per ellipsin.^[6][7]
• 1560s – English ellipsis is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (grammar) ellipsis, the omission of a word.^[2][1]
2. (geometry) An ellipse.^[1]
3. (Medieval Latin) An eclipse, disappearance.^[9]

Related words

• English ellipsis
• English ellipse

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften