The hysteron proteron (from the el, ὕστερον πρότερον, ''hýsteron próteron'', "later earlier") is a
rhetorical device. It occurs when the first key word of the idea refers to something that happens temporally later than the second key word. The goal is to call attention to the more important idea by placing it first.
The standard example comes from the ''
Aeneid
The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of th ...
'' of
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...
: "''Moriamur, et in media arma ruamus''" ("Let us die, and charge into the thick of the fight"; ii. 353). An example of hysteron proteron encountered in everyday life is the common reference to putting on one's "shoes and socks", rather than "socks and shoes".
By this deliberate reversal, hysteron proteron draws attention to the important point, so giving it primacy.
Hysteron proteron is a form of
hyperbaton
Hyperbaton , in its original meaning, is a figure of speech in which a phrase is made discontinuous by the insertion of other words.Andrew M. Devine, Laurence D. Stephens, ''Latin Word Order: Structured Meaning and Information'' (Oxford: Oxford Un ...
, which describes general rearrangements of the sentence.
It can also be defined as a figure of speech consisting of the reversal of a natural or rational order (as in "then came the thunder and the lightning").
Example from the Quran
An example from the
Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...
that demonstrates hysteron proteron, verse (aya) number 89–90 from
Sura Number 21 says that God granted
Zechariah's prayer for a son even though Zechariah was very old and his wife was sterile:
A more conventional phrasing would be: "We granted his prayer; we made his wife fertile for him; and
aving done sowe gave him John." The reversal of the expected sequence (hysteron proteron) in the verse suggests immediacy: Zechariah's prayer was granted without any delay at all, so much so that the detail itself, ''"We made his wife fertile for him,"'' was not allowed to intervene between the prayer and its acceptance.
[Literature and the Quran, Encyclopaedia Of The Quran]
See also
*
Begging the question, a subtype of which is sometimes called "hysteron proteron" as well
*
Cart before the horse
The expression ''cart before the horse'' is an idiom or proverb used to suggest something is done contrary to the natural or normally effective sequence of events. A cart is a vehicle that is ordinarily pulled by a horse, so to put the cart be ...
*
George Hysteron-Proteron
Colonel the Hon. George Hysteron-Proteron CB (c. 1874–1942) is a fictional character created by the author J. K. Stanford. A British soldier, sporting gun, and Lord of the manor of Five Mile Wallop, Cambridgeshire, in his London home, the Qu'h ...
*
Hysteron Proteron Club
References
Rhetorical techniques
Figures of speech
Narratology
Word order
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