Figura etymologica is a

rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...

figure Figure may refer to: General *A shape, drawing, depiction, or geometric configuration *Figure (wood), wood appearance *Figure (music), distinguished from musical motif *Noise figure, in telecommunication *Dance figure, an elementary dance pattern ...

in which words with the same

etymological Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the form of words and ...

derivation are used in the same passage. To count as a figura etymologica, it is necessary that the two words be genuinely different words and not just different inflections of the same word. For example, the sentence ''Once I loved, but I love no more'' is not a figura etymologica since although ''love'' and ''loved'' are obviously etymologically related, they are really just inflections of the same word. Examples in modern English are the phrases "

might and main Might may refer to: * ''might'', one of the English modal verbs * "Might", a song by Modest Mouse from their 1996 album ''This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About'' * ''Might'' magazine, a magazine founded by American author D ...

" (both of which are derived from the

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo-E ...

root '' megʰ-'') and "

chai tea Masala chai (, ; Urdu: مصالحہ چائے, Hindi: मसाला चाय) is an Indian tea beverage made by boiling black tea in milk and water with a mixture of aromatic herbs and spices. Originating in India the beverage has gained world ...

", in which both come from words for tea (''cha'' and ''te'') in different

Chinese dialects Chinese language, Chinese, also known as Sinitic languages, Sinitic, is a branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages, Sino-Tibetan language family consisting of hundreds of local variety (linguistics), varieties, many of which are not mutual intelli ...

. The figura etymologica has both a narrower and a broader definition. In the narrower definition, it is restricted to the use of the accusative with cognate verbs (for example, ''live a good life'', ''sing a long song'', ''die a quiet death''). In the Western medieval tradition, it is often expressed in phrases like ''to sail a sailing'', ''to run a running'', or even ''to propose a proposal''. In modern linguistics, this same construction goes by the name of "

cognate object In linguistics, a cognate object (or cognate accusative) is a verb's object (grammar), object that is etymologically related to the verb. More specifically, the verb is one that is ordinarily intransitive (lacking any object), and the cognate object ...

construction" (COC). In the broader definition, the figura etymologica refers to just about any sort of repetition of cognate words relatively close to each other.

References

* Clary, Todd C. ''Solemnity, Banality and Sarcasm: Provenances of the Figura Etymologica in Homer,'' Cornell University
abstract
* Clary, Todd C. "Restrictions on the Figura Etymologica in Archaic Greek epic" Cornell Universit

{{DEFAULTSORT:Figura Etymologica Rhetorical techniques

See also

References