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A.Word.A.Day--hyperbaton

hyperbaton (hye-PUR-buh-ton), noun, plural hyperbatons, hyperbata

The use, especially for emphasis, of a word order other than the expected or usual one, as in "Bird thou never wert.'

[Greek huperbaton, from neuter of huperbatos, transposed, from huperbainein, to step over : huper-, over, across + bainein, to step.]

"`Out from him sprang the sun and the moon; from man, the sun; from woman, the moon.' This deliberate inversion of expected logic is one of many uses of hyperbaton in the essay. Eric Wilson, Weaving: Breathing: Thinking: The poetics of Emerson's Nature, ATQ, Mar 1996.

This week's theme: words about words.

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