| Figure Name | diastole |
| Source | Silva Rhetoricae (http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/Silva.htm); Mosellanus ("ectasis") a3v; Susenbrotus (1540) 22 ("diastole," "ectasis"); Sherry (1550) 27 ("ectasis," "extensio"); Peacham (1577) E3r ; JG Smith (1665) ("diastole") |
| Earliest Source | None |
| Synonyms | eciasis, ectasis |
| Etymology | from Gk. dia, "asunder" and stellein, "to place" |
| Type | Scheme |
| Linguistic Domain |
Phonological |
| Definition |
1. To lengthen a vowel or syllable beyond its typical length. A kind of metaplasm. (Silva Rhetoricae) 2. Extension: a figure whereby a syllable, short by nature• is made long.; Diastole, extensio, extension, or lengthening. A figure of Prosodia, whereby syllable, short by nature is made long. (JG Smith) 3. Diastole short syllables prolongs; But this, to right the verse, the accent wrongs. (Holmes) |
| Example |
1. The third syllable of "serviceable" is normally short, but as this word occurs in the following line of iambic pentameter, that syllable is lengthened because it takes the stress of the meter's rhythm (stressed syllables are underlined): I know thee well; a serviceable villain, —Shakespeare, King Lear 4.6.251 (Silva Rhetoricae) 3. Naufrāgia, for Naufrǎgia. (Holmes) |
| Kind Of | Omission |
| Part Of | |
| Related Figures | metaplasm, systole |
| Notes | Unsure of 'type of' -- omission because one would normally expected the vowel or syllable length to be shorter? Diastole is sometimes employed for the sake of meter, and may result (in English) in the shifting of accent from one syllable to another. |
| Confidence | Unconfident |
| Last Editor | Nayoung Hong |
| Confidence | Unconfident |
| Editorial Notes | |
| Reviewed | No |