parenthesis

Forms

părenthĕsis f (genitive părenthĕsis); third declension^[1][2] The TLL also records the Greek genitive parentheseos and the spelling parentesis.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek παρένθεσις (parénthesis, “insertion”),^[2][1][4][3] literally a putting in beside, from παρα- (para-, “beside”) and ἐν (en, “in”) and a form of the verb for to put.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Quintilian and Rutilius Lupus still write it as a Greek word, in Greek letters; as a Latin word it appears from Porphyrio (second half of the 2nd century AD)^[4] and Sacerdos on, only in the writers on rhetoric and grammar.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In rhetoric it was the figure in which a sentence foreign to the context is put inside another, rendered in Latin as interpositio;^[3][2][6] Servius uses it in his commentary on Virgil.^[6][3] In grammar it meant the insertion of a letter or syllable into a word, what is now called epenthesis, a sense found in Charisius.^[2][1][6]

Bede defines it as a statement inserted into a divided sentence,^[7] and medieval writers used the phrase per parenthesin for something said in parenthesis.^[7] English parenthesis, from French or directly from Medieval Latin, dates from the 1540s.^[5]

Timeline

• 2nd half of the 2nd century AD – Porphyrio uses the word in Latin, in his commentary on Horace.^[3][4]
• 3rd century AD – Sacerdos uses it as a term of rhetoric.^[6][4]
• c. 362 AD – Charisius uses it for the insertion of a letter or syllable.^[2][4]
• c. 400 AD – Servius names the figure in his commentary on the Aeneid.^[3][6][4]
• first third of the 8th century AD – Bede defines it in his treatise on figures of speech.^[2][7][4]
• 1540s – English borrows it as parenthesis.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (rhetoric) A parenthesis, a statement inserted into a sentence to which it does not belong.^[3][2][1][7]
2. (grammar) Epenthesis, the insertion of a letter or syllable into a word.^[2][1][6]

Related words

• interpositio
• English parenthesis

References

1. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press