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This article is about the rhetorical concept. For other each.[5][6][7][8] This is also called semantic syllepsis. Exuses, see Zeugma (disambiguation).
ample: He took his hat and his leave. This type of gure is not grammatically incorrect, but creates its eect
i
Zeugma ( /zum/ or /zjum/; from the Ancient by seeming at rst hearing to be incorrect, by exploiting
multiple shades of meaning in a single word or phrase.
Greek , zegma, lit. a yoking together[1] ) and
syllepsis (/slpss/; from the Ancient Greek ,
Miss Bolo [] went straight home, in a ood of
sullpsis, lit. a taking together[2] ) are gures of speech
tears and a sedan-chair. (Charles Dickens, The
in which one single phrase or word joins dierent parts
Pickwick Papers, Chapter 35)
of a sentence.[3]
Give neither counsel nor salt till you are asked for
it.[9] (English proverb)
Denition
1.1
Type 1
When he asked What in heaven?" she made no reply, up her mind, and a dash for the door. (Flanders
and Swann, "Have Some Madeira M'Dear")
Where the washing is not put out, nor the re, nor
the mistress. (Henry David Thoreau, Walden)
By denition, grammatical syllepsis will often be grammatically incorrect according to prescriptivist rules.
However, such solecisms are sometimes not errors but intentional constructions in which the rules of grammar are
bent by necessity or for stylistic eect.
"...a house they call the rising sun, where love and
money are made. (Dolly Parton's rendition of "The
House of the Rising Sun")
"...Now when all the clowns that you have commissioned. / Have died in battle or in vain. (Bob Dylan,
"Queen Jane Approximately", Highway 61)
When the meaning of a verb varies for the nouns following it, there is a standard order for the nouns. The
standard order is rst the noun taking the most prototypZeugma (often also called syllepsis, or semantic syllepsis): ical or literal meaning of the verb, followed by the noun
where a single word is used with two other parts of a sen- or nouns taking the less prototypical, or more gurative,
tence but must be understood dierently in relation to verb meanings.
1.2
Type 2
The boy swallowed milk and kisses, as opposed to 2 Other types, and related gures
The boy swallowed kisses and milk. (Kelly, Bock
& Keil, 1986).[11]
There are several other denitions of zeugma, encompassing other ways in which one word in a sentence can
relate to two or more others. Even a simple construc1.3 Type 3
tion such as this is easy and comprehensible has been
called[3] a zeugma without complication, because is
The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms oers a much governs both easy and comprehensible.
broader denition for zeugma, describing a zeugma as
Specialized gures have been dened to distinguish zeugany case of parallelism and ellipsis working together so
mas with particular characteristics, such as the following
that a single word governs two or more other parts of a
gures that relate to the specic type and location of the
[12]
sentence.
governing word:
Vicit pudorem libido timorem audacia rationem
2.1
amentia. (Cicero, Pro Cluentio, VI.15)
Diazeugma
A diazeugma[15] is a zeugma where a single subject governs multiple verbs. A diazeugma where a single subject begins the sentence and controls a series of verbs
was called a disjunction (disiunctio) in the Rhetorica ad
The more usual way of phrasing this would be: Lust Herennium.[16]
conquered shame, audacity conquered fear, and madness
conquered reason. This sentence consists or three par Populus Romanus Numantiam delevit Kartaginem
allel clauses, called parallel because each has the same
sustulit Corinthum disiecit Fregellas evertit.
word order subject, verb, object. The verb conquered
(Rhetorica ad Herennium. IV. xxvii.[16] )
is a common element in each clause. The zeugma is created by removing the second and third instances of conThe Roman people destroyed Numantia,
quered. The act of removing words that still can be unrazed Carthage, demolished Corinth,
derstood in the context of the words that remain is called
and overthrew Fregellae.
ellipsis.
We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any
hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to as Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathsure the survival and the success of liberty.
ematics, subtle; natural philosophy, deep; moral,
Lust conquered shame; audacity, fear;
madness, reason.
1.4
Type 4
John F. Kennedy
2.2 Hypozeugma
Hypozeugma[17] or adjunctions (adiunctio)[18] is used
in a construction containing several phrases. It occurs
when the word or words on which all of the phrases depend is placed last.
Assure yourself that Damon to his Pythias, Pylades
to his Orestes, Titus to his Gysippus, Theseus to
his Pyrothus, Scipio to his Laelius, was never found
more faithful than Euphues will be to his Philautus.
(John Lyly, Euphues)[19]
2.3 Prozeugma
A prozeugma,[20] synezeugmenon, or praeiunctio is a
zeugma where the governing word occurs in the rst
clause of the sentence.[19]
Vicit pudorem libido timorem audacia rationem
amentia. (Cicero, Pro Cluentio, VI.15)
3
Lust conquered shame; audacity, fear;
madness, reason.
Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtile; natural philosophy, deep; moral,
grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend. (Francis
Bacon[13] ).
2.4
Mesozeugma
3
4
See also
References
5 External links
Some examples of zeugma as a synonym for syllepsis
Perseus Project with links to original sources on
rhetoric
6.1
Text
Zeugma Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeugma?oldid=676509435 Contributors: The Epopt, Vicki Rosenzweig, Bryan Derksen,
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