ἀλληγορία Ancient Greek · revision 3258

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=1st century BC, Cicero and Philodemus|origins=grc ἄλλος, grc ἀγορεύω}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /al.lɛː.ɡo.rí.aː/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /al.li.ɣoˈri.a/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /al.li.ɣoˈri.a/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ᾰ̓λληγορῐ́ᾱ''' (allēgoríā) ''f'' (genitive ᾰ̓λληγορῐ́ᾱς); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|grc|ἄλλος|ἀγορεύω|tr1=állos|tr2=agoreúō|t1=other|t2=to speak in public]]: “speaking otherwise”, saying one thing and meaning another.^(Wiktionary)^(Hesychius) Hesychius defines it as language “that points to something other than what is heard”.^(Hesychius)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The earliest examples are in the 1st century BC: Cicero, writing in Greek in a letter, says he will tell of political matters “in allegories”, and Philodemus pairs allegories with metaphors.^(DGE)^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The treatise ''On Style'' ascribed to Demetrius describes allegory as a veil over speech, used in the mysteries and like darkness and night, and impressive above all in threats, as when Dionysius said that “the cicadas will sing to them from the ground”, meaning that their land would be laid waste.^(DGE) Rhetoric defined it as a continuous series of metaphors, as Cicero and Quintilian explain.^(DGE)^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ Plutarch uses it for the allegorical interpretation of myths and for the riddles of prophecy, and Longinus speaks of interpreting a passage “by way of allegory”.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE) Latin took it as ''allegoria''.^(DGE) Modern Greek [[m|el|αλληγορία|tr=alligoría]] is a learned word for an allegory in words or art, and colloquially for vague, roundabout talk.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1st century BC – Cicero and Philodemus use it for veiled and figurative language.^(DGE)^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 1st century BC (perhaps) – Demetrius' ''On Style'' discusses it as a figure.^(DGE)

+ * 1st century AD – Quintilian defines Latin ''allegoria''.^(DGE)^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it for the allegorical reading of myths.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Veiled language; a word or passage with a hidden or double meaning; [[m|en|allegory]].^(DGE)^(LSJ 1940)

+ # ''(rhetoric)'' A continuous series of metaphors; figurative language.^(DGE)^(LSJ 1940)

+ # Allegorical interpretation of myths.^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ἄλλος|tr=állos]]

+ * [[ἀγορεύω|tr=agoreúō]]

+ * [[en|allegory]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}