| Figure Name | metaplasm |
| Source | Silva Rhetoricae (http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/Silva.htm); Mosellanus a3r-a4r; Peacham (1577) E1v ; JG Smith (1665) ("metaplasmus") |
| Earliest Source | None |
| Synonyms | metaplasmus |
| Etymology | from Gk. metaplasso “to mold differently, remodel” |
| Type | Scheme |
| Linguistic Domain |
Orthographic |
| Definition |
1. A general term for orthographical figures (changes to the spelling of words). This includes alteration of the letters or syllables in single words, including additions, omissions, inversions, and substitutions. Such changes are considered conscious choices made by the artist or orator for the sake of eloquence or meter, in contrast to the same kinds of changes done accidentally and discussed by grammarians as vices (see barbarism). (Silva Rhetoricae) 2. Transformation, or a changing from one shape to another: a figure when by reason of the verse, &c. something is necessarily changed, &c.; (Note in marg: See it further in pag. 5.) METAPLASMVS, Transformation, It is a Figure when by reason of the verse, &c. something is necessarily changed redundant, or defficient. (JG Smith) |
| Example | |
| Kind Of | |
| Part Of | |
| Related Figures | diastole, epenthesis, paragoge, prothesis, diaeresis, aphaeresis, apocope, ellipsis, ecthlipsis, synaloepha, synaeresis, syncope, systole, metathesis, antisthecon |
| Notes | |
| Confidence | Unconfident |
| Last Editor | Nike Abbott |
| Confidence | Unconfident |
| Editorial Notes | |
| Reviewed | No |