2 August 2013

polyptoton

[POL-ip-toe-tuhn]

(plural polyptota or polyptotons)

noun (rhetoric)

– A stylistic scheme in which words from the same root are used together, or a word is repeated in a different inflection or case.
Usage notes[edit]

An example of polyptoton appears in the following quote with variation on the word feed:
c1595, William Shakespeare, s:Richard II, act II, scene i,

‘With eager feeding food doth choke the feeder’.

Other examples:

“The Greeks are strong, and skillful to their strength, Fierce to their skill, and to their fierceness valiant;” William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida I, i, 7-8

“Not as a call to battle, though embattled we are.” John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961

“Who shall watch the watchmen themselves (Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?)?” Juvenal

Today’s aphorism

‘Absolute power corrupts absolutely’. Lord Acton

On this day

2 August 216BC – 2nd Punic War, Battle of Cannae, in which Hannibal defeats the much larger Roman army.

2 August 1776 – the United States Declaration of Independence officially signed by 56 Congressional delegates who were not present on 4 July 1776, when 34 Congressional delegates signed and ratified it.

2 August 1934 – the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 is passed in the United States, levying $1 on commercial dealers of cannabis. It did not outlaw cannabis, but included hefty penalties if the Act was violated, namely five years imprisonment and a $2,000 fine. The Act was repealed in 1970.

2 August 1964 – the first Gulf of Tonkin Incident in which North Vietnamese troops fired on a US destroyer, the USS Maddox (the second incident allegedly occurred on 4 August 1964). The incident gave rise to the US Congress passing the ‘Gulf of Tonkin Resolution’ – officially the ‘Southeast Asia Resolution – which eventually led to the Vietnam War.