| Figure Name | paroemion |
| Source | Silva Rhetoricae (http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/Silva.htm); Isidore 1.36.14; Peacham (1593); Puttenham (1589) ("parimion," "figure of like letter") |
| Earliest Source | None |
| Synonyms | paromoeon, parimion, figure of like letter |
| Etymology | Gk. para, "near" and homoios, "like" |
| Type | Scheme |
| Linguistic Domain |
Orthographic Phonological |
| Definition |
1. Alliteration taken to an extreme where nearly every word in a sentence begins with the same consonant. Sometimes, simply a synonym for alliteration or for homoeoprophoron. (Silva Rhetoricae) 2. Paroemion is a figure of speech which beginneth diverse words with one and the same letter, making the sentence more readie for the tongue, and more pleasant to the eare. (Peacham) |
| Example |
1. The powers of prunes are prudent to provide potent pallitive prophylaxis of potential pooper problems, priming you for purging. (Rob Bohnenberger qtd. in Silva Rhetoricae) 2. What can it prevaile you, to fit and weepe upon your wound, or what may it profit you to mourne upon your miserie? the one is no salve, hte other no succour. (Peacham) 2. Let comfort banish care, and hope releeve heavinesse. Let wisedome keepe your thoughts from wanering. (Peacham) 2. When friendly favor flourished, I found felicitie but now no hope doth helpe my heart in heavinesse so hard. (Peacham) |
| Kind Of | Opposition Repetition Series |
| Part Of | |
| Related Figures | alliteration, homoeoprophoron, cacemphaton, figures of repetition, figures of sound |
| Notes | Peacham argues that this figures effectiveness come through its combination of repetition and variety. This figure will fail, he says, when it is used to excess or if a "jarring" sound is used and provided the following example from Latin: "O tite, tute Tate tibi tanta tyranne tulifti" (Cornificius qtd. in Peacham). |
| Confidence | Unconfident |
| Last Editor | Ashley Rose Kelly |
| Confidence | Unconfident |
| Editorial Notes | |
| Reviewed | No |