"epistrophe (i-PIS-truh-fee) noun" I find this pronunciation unappealing. In the first place, I don't know what a "struffy" is, and piss has nothing to do with it either.
I like "http://humanities.uchicago.edu/forms_unrest/webster.form.html" pronunciation much better.
Epistrophe (Page: 503)
E*pis"tro*phe (?), n. [L., from Gr. a turning toward, return, fr. to turn toward; upon, to + to turn.] (Rhet.) A figure in which successive clauses end with the same word or affirmation; e. g., Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I." 2 Cor. xi. 22.
Is a Vit-amin a Vita-min? Indeed, it is. Is a tomayto a tomato? Indeed, it is. One man's emphasis is another man's native accent, as familiar and sweet as his native land, wwh. [Trusting you are back up to speed.]
Dear tsuwm: I can't hear the online pronunciation at all well. Where do you stand on the "struffy" part? It sounds like laziness to me. I despise schwas etc. which fail to give useful clue to spelling.
dear bill, the AHD (as at bartleby.com), for one, is very consistent with the 'strophe' words, putting the accent on the second syllable: a NAS tro phe an TIS tro phe a POS tro phe ca TAS tro phe
hence e PIS tro phe or NITH o tro phe :) pe RIS tro phe
but SYS tro phe and STRO phe 8)
p.s. - where there is an adj. form the major accent almost invariably changes to the penultimate syllable; e.g., cata STROPH ic
the AHD is very consistent with the 'strophe' words, putting the accent on the second syllable [examples]; but SYS tro phe
Could the rule that the antepenultimate syllable [if there is one] is accented, in which case "systrophe" would not be an exception? Among the words tsuwm cites, only or NITH o tro phe would be an exception -- but is that the correct pronunciation of that word? For that matter, is there any such word? I am unable to find it.
I think we could all do with some orthoepy , which, by the way, I do not know how to pronounce.
Did anyone else notice, in today's WAD, that the palindromic URL leads to a page with the definition of a palindrome? Anu is just the cleverest thing I ever saw! [beaming smile e]
The one got me was aphelion, good old Greek word, from ap[o]away from and heliossun. Nice and easy to pronounce, right? [ap-HEEL-yun] Well, imagine my surprise when I hear no less than Block and Bird from Earth and Sky pronounce it [uh-FEEL-yun]. So I look it up in the dictionary and they have it wrong, too, [uh-FEEL-yun], just like Block and Bird.
Keiva has a point with his antepenult comment. Ornithotrophe (nor ornithotrophy for that matter) is neither in the OED nor is it a -strophe word and therefore should not be thought of as an exception to the antepenult rule
Does epistrophe require that the repetition be identical, or may it be merely parallel? That is, would the folloing be an example of epistrophe, and if not, what is the name for the rhetorical device used?
If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?
but you are wrong, oh strophic one. it is listed under the prefix ornitho-
or"nithotrophe nonce-wd., a place to which birds are attracted by food, so as to come under observation. 1826 Dovaston in Bewick's Brit. Birds (ed. 6) I. Pref. 5, I examined+no less than twenty three sorts of birds in and about my Ornithotrophe, as I humourously denominate it.
so it was invented by Mr. Dovaston for his bird book and prolly never used again. and as far as it not being a -strophe word, there you have me, as I originally looked for -trophe (or even trophy!) words. but was then swayed by the struffy (or was it scruffy) comments of dr. bill.
The one got me was aphelion, good old Greek word, from ap[o] away from and helios sun. Nice and easy to pronounce, right? [ap-HEEL-yun] Well, imagine my surprise when I hear no less than Block and Bird from Earth and Sky pronounce it [uh-FEEL-yun]. So I look it up in the dictionary and they have it wrong, too, [uh-FEEL-yun], just like Block and Bird.
Well, Harrumphİ!
I guess I'm fighting an uh-fill battle.
Not from this corner of the ring, you're not. If the dictionaries are showing an "aff" pronunciation for aphelion, they've just plain got it wrong. After all, if for no other reason, the fact that its opposite, perihelion, cannot be pronounced similarly should indicate the correct pronunciation. It may, of course, simply be that the OED and all the others have simply chosen to go with the flow.
"Since you ask, Dr. Bill, t'aint nuttin' wrong with a schwa. Thoe who make apoint of not using it tend to come across as pretentiously pedantic. "
What I don't like about the "schwa" is that it is often used in place of the printed vowel, out of laziness in speaking, in a way that obscures etymology.
The is an old and honorable dictum that two wrongs don't make a right. In language, however, a thousand wrongs do make a right, regrettably.
The one got me was aphelion, good old Greek word, from ap[o] away from and helios sun
yeahbut, quotha. aph- represents the phonetic variant of the Greek apo- (away from) as used before an aspirated vowel. here's a chalenge: find an aph- word in English that's *not pronounced ef or ĉf.
straphanger NOUN: 1. One who grips a hanging strap or similar device for support while riding as a passenger on a bus or subway. 2. One who uses public transportation.
OK, tsuwm... you challenged to "find an aph- word [not an -aph- word] in English that's *not pronounced ef or ĉĤĵ/i>."
"Aphelion" is one example: even the problematic souces while faldage cites give the first syllable as af,not ef. "Aphid" is another example: the preferred pronunciation of the first syllable is long a. So too aphonia.
Of course, I understand that your point probably focused on the ph pronunciation.
Dear Max: Please don't misunderstand me. I do not condemn all schwas, only the few where the printed vowel helps distinguish between two words, or helps one grasp origins of a word. Haven't any examples ready at the moment, I regret.
If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?
epistrophe seems to differ from anaphora only in that the repeated word or phrase must come at the end of each clause or sentence... so your example would probably simply be anaphora.
(OTOH, i just looked it up to be certain, and atomica claims that the anaphoric repitition must come at the beginning of the clause, but i think maybe that's wrong, considering the more general linguistic usage (such as, as Atomica helpfully provides, using "her" to refer to a pronoun at the beginning of a sentence, eg Anne asked Edward to pass her the salt.)
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, which, by the way, I do not know how to pronounce.
