In its strictest sense, tmesis (; plural tmeses ;

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic pe ...

: ''tmēsis'' "a cutting" < ''temnō'', "I cut") is a word compound that is divided into two parts, with another word

infix An infix is an affix inserted inside a word stem (an existing word or the core of a family of words). It contrasts with '' adfix,'' a rare term for an affix attached to the outside of a stem, such as a prefix or suffix. When marking text for i ...

ed between the parts, thus constituting a separate word compound. In a broader sense, ''tmesis'' is a recognizable phrase (such as a

phrasal verb In the traditional grammar of Modern English, a phrasal verb typically constitutes a single semantic unit composed of a verb followed by a particle (examples: ''turn down'', ''run into'' or ''sit up''), sometimes combined with a preposition (e ...

) or word that is divided into two parts, with one or more words interpolated between the parts, thus creating a separate phrase.

Verbs

Tmesis of

prefix A prefix is an affix which is placed before the stem of a word. Adding it to the beginning of one word changes it into another word. For example, when the prefix ''un-'' is added to the word ''happy'', it creates the word ''unhappy''. Particul ...

ed verbs (whereby the prefix is separated from the simple verb) was an original feature of the

language, common in

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

(and later poetry), but not used in

Attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a ''loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building; an attic may also be called a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because attics fill the space between the ceiling of the ...

prose. Such

separable verb A separable verb is a verb that is composed of a lexical core and a separable particle. In some sentence positions, the core verb and the particle appear in one word, whilst in others the core verb and the particle are separated. The particle cann ...

s are also part of the normal grammatical usage of some modern languages, such as

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

Ancient Greek

Tmesis in

is something of a misnomer, since there is not necessarily a splitting of the prefix from the verb; rather the consensus now seems to be that the separate prefix or pre-verb reflects a stage in the language where the prefix had not yet joined onto the verb. There are many examples in Homer's epics, the ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Ody ...

'' and the ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the '' Iliad'', ...

'', both of which preserve archaic features. One common and oft-cited example is (''kata dakrua leibōn;'' "shedding tears"), in which the pre-verb/

''kata-'' "down" has not yet joined the verbal participle ''leibōn'' "shedding". In later Greek, these would combine to form the compound verb ''kataleibōn'' "shedding (in a downwards direction)".

Latin

Tmesis is found as a poetic or rhetorical device in classical

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

poetry, such as

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom ...

's ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his '' magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the ...

''. Words such as ''circumdare'' ("to surround") are split apart with other words of the sentence in between, e.g. ''circum virum dant'': "they surround the man" (circumdant (circum- prefix + dant)). This device is used in this way to create a visual image of surrounding the man by means of the words on the line. In the work of the poet

Ennius Quintus Ennius (; c. 239 – c. 169 BC) was a writer and poet who lived during the Roman Republic. He is often considered the father of Roman poetry. He was born in the small town of Rudiae, located near modern Lecce, Apulia, (Ancient Calabri ...

, the literal splitting of the word ''cerebrum'' creates a vivid image: ''saxo cere comminuit brum'' "he shattered his brain with a rock."

Old Irish

Tmesis can be found in some early Old Irish texts, such as Audacht Morainn. Old Irish verbs are found at the beginning of clauses (in a VSO word order) and often possess prepositional pre-verbal particles, e.g. ''ad-midethar'' (ad- prefix) "evaluates, estimates". Tmesis occurs when the pre-verbal particle is separated from the verbal stem and the verbal stem is placed in clause final position while the pre-verbal particle/prefix remains at the beginning of the clause. This results in an abnormal word order, e.g. ''ad- cruth caín -cichither'' " hefair form will be seen" (where ''ad-chichither'' is the future third-person singular passive of ''ad-cí'' "sees").

Old Norse

Examples of tmesis have been found in

skaldic poetry A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: , later ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry, the other being Eddic poetry, which is anonymous. Skaldic poems were traditional ...

. In addition to the use of

kennings A kenning ( Icelandic: ) is a figure of speech in the type of circumlocution, a compound that employs figurative language in place of a more concrete single-word noun. Kennings are strongly associated with Old Norse-Icelandic and Old English ...

skald A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: , later ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry, the other being Eddic poetry, which is anonymous. Skaldic poems were traditional ...

s used tmesis to obscure the meaning of the poem. One use of tmesis was to divide the elements of personal names.

German

The so-called

s have a separable particle that changes the meaning of the root verb, but that does not always remain attached to the root verb. German sentence structure normally places verbs in second position or final position. For separable verbs, the particle always appears in final position. If a particular sentence's structure places the entire verb in final position, then the particle and root verb appear together. If a sentence places the verb in second position, then only the root verb will appear in second position; the separated particle remains at the end of the sentence. For example, the separable verb ''anfangen'' ("to start") consists of the separable particle ''an'' and the root ''fangen'': :Root verb in second position: ''Ich fange die Arbeit an.'' ("I start the work.") :Root verb in final position: ''Morgens trinke ich heiße Schokolade, weil ich dann die Arbeit anfange.'' ("In the morning I drink hot chocolate, because afterwards I begin the work.") However, in many other German verbs the particle (such as ''be-'' or ''ent-'') is inseparable, always staying with the root verb. In some verbs, the past participle prefix ''ge'' is inserted in the middle of the word, for instance: :''Ich habe die Arbeit bereits angefangen.'' ("I have already begun the assignment.")

English

Colloquial examples include ''un-bloody-believable'' and several variants. Numerous English words are joined with the vulgar

''-fucking-'', such as " unfuckingbelievable". The phrase ''A whole nother...(story / kettle of fish / ball game / etc.)'', wherein ''whole'' is interpolated within the word ''another'', is an example of tmesis that results in a

noun phrase In linguistics, a noun phrase, or nominal (phrase), is a phrase that has a noun or pronoun as its head or performs the same grammatical function as a noun. Noun phrases are very common cross-linguistically, and they may be the most frequently oc ...

rather than a compound word. English employs a large number of

s, consisting of a core verb and a particle. A phrasal verb is written as two words that are analyzed semantically as a unit, but the unit may be separable under certain circumstances. For example, regarding a phrasal verb that has a transitive sense: :''Turn off'' the light OR ''Turn'' the light ''off''. (optional tmesis) :''Hand in'' the application OR ''Hand'' it ''in''. (optional tmesis) Similarly, tmesis can occur regarding a phrasal verb that has an intransitive sense. For example: :''Come back'' tomorrow OR ''Come'' on ''back'' tomorrow. (

adjunctive In linguistics, an adjunct is an optional, or ''structurally dispensable'', part of a sentence, clause, or phrase that, if removed or discarded, will not structurally affect the remainder of the sentence. Example: In the sentence ''John helped Bil ...

tmesis) :Let's ''head out'' OR Let's ''head'' right ''out''. (adjunctive tmesis) The intervention of an adverb or transitive object in the middle of the phrasal verb can be viewed as a form of tmesis even though the semantic unit being separated is written as two words even when not separated.

References

{{reflist, 2 Rhetoric Figures of speech Poetic devices Word order Infixes