In my pennyworth pulp-paper "Dictionary of Difficult Words" published by Wordsworth I found the word "diasyrm n rhetorical device of damning with faint praise" which became an immediate favourite.
I knew the phrase "damnation with faint praise" all too well, and was happy to discover that there is actually a word for it.
It was an epiglottis moment.
Sadly, all attempts to discover its etymology have come to nothing.
Does any know, or can anyone take an educated guess, at its root, cognate, origin?
Rhet.
[ad. Gr. {delta}{iota}{alpha}{sigma}{upsilon}{rho}{mu}{goacu}{fsigma}, Latinized diasyrmus, disparagement, ridicule, the rhetorical figure expressing this, f. {delta}{iota}{alpha}{sigma}{guacu}{rho}{epsilon}{iota}{nu} to disparage, ridicule, f. {delta}{iota}{gaacu} through, apart + {sigma}{guacu}{rho}{epsilon}{iota}{nu} to drag.]
A figure of rhetoric expressing disparagement or ridicule. -OED2
interesting, just today OED chaged the look of their online site. copying Greek terms now comes across as you see it, rather than being lost as before.
as to this word being rare, it isn't all that. OED2 has many words marked rare for which they have zero citations, or only a cite from a really old dictionary such as Jamieson or Bailey.
what on earth are goacu, guacu, and gaacu?
Bingley
they would appear to be various "acu"te tags.
Thanks for the info.
But I'm left wondering, did the OED polish of the patina of the original definition (I mean from "damnation with faint praise" to the rather dull "ridicule") or did the 3 dollar, pulp-paper, pages-falling-out-on-the-first-day Wordsworth Dictionary of Difficult Words just bungle their definition?
It that the OED online you are using?
Is it free?
1) see what Silva Rhetoricae has to say about diasyrmus.
http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/silva.htmb) OED online, yes.
iii) it's hardly free; subscriptions for individuals are $295 per annum, or a low monthly rate of US$29.95. but you can get free access through proxy servers at many libraries. ask your local...
and finally, see how this tergiversating twit defines it:
http://home.mn.rr.com/wwftd/def.htm#diasyrm
So the WDDW is bog paper after all.
"Tergiversating..."
I see your point. It can hardly mean "ridicule" AND "praise".
Or could 'diasyrm' actually mean both afterall? What do they call that? A contranym?
Let me check the WDDW.
I think I would want evidence in the form of citations before trusting these sources over the OED. The LSJ only gives one online citation for (diasurmos), Diodorus Siculus 14.109.6:
But Dionysius, hearing of the diasurmos of his poems did not leave off his enthusiasm for writing as his flatters said that those who were jealous of all such well written things later admired them. (
My translation)
I think disparagement probably fits better than damning with faint praise here.
Adding link: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Diod.+14.109.1
Bingley
Thanks for the links tsuwm, I was trying to figure out how to pronounce the word.
It seems to be a deverbal noun: from Gk διασυρω (diasuro) 'to tear to pieces; disparage; draw through' fr. δια (dia) 'through' συρω (suro) 'to drag, draw'. Also diasurtes 'detractor'. Cf. English detract which is related to the Latin verb traho 'to draw', intraho 'to draw along, abuse', attraho 'to draw or drag with force; attract', etc.
Eh?
tsuredzuregusa kR
blades of grass upon the wind
Well, my computer won't let me read Japanese; at least not set up the way it is. The characters show in my typing window, but not in the post. 
So, I've figured out goacu and guacu (although precisely what Greek letters they refer to is beyond me) but what the behoove is fsigma???
Faldo, they seem to refer not just to letters, but to diacritics.
so Gk. kaustiks is rendered as {kappa}{alpha}{upsilon}{sigma}{tau}{iota}{kappa}{goacu}{fsigma}
[fsigma <> the dark and mysterious "final sigma"]
The form of the Greek alphabet usually used for classical texts has two forms for sigma. If I could remember how, I would show you here, but I'll just describe them: the one used at the beginning or in the middle of words looks like an o with a tail going off to the right at the top, while the one used at the end of words looks like our s, but longer going down below the line.
Bingley
Pictures of these pretty Greek letters appear here.
http://www.answers.com/topic/greek-alphabet-2