Homeoteleuton, also spelled homoeoteleuton and homoioteleuton (from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

, ''homoioteleuton'', "like ending"), is the repetition of endings in words. Homeoteleuton is also known as near rhyme.

History

Homeoteleuton (homoioteleuton) was first identified by

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

in his ''

Rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...

'', where he identifies it as two lines of verse which end with words having the same ending. He uses the following example. In

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

rhetoric and poetry homeoteleuton was a frequently used device. It was used to associate two words which had similar endings and bring them to the reader's attention. We are all bound up together in one great bundle of humanity, and society cannot trample on the weak''est'' and feebl''est'' of its members without receiving the curse in its own soul. (Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, speech, 1866) Hungry people cannot be good at learn''ing'' or produc''ing'' anyth''ing'' except perhaps violence. (Pearl Bailey, Pearl's Kitchen) He arrived at ideas the slow way, never skat''ing'' over the clear, hard ice of logic, nor soar''ing'' on the slipstreams of imagination, but slogg''ing'', plodd''ing'' along on the heavy ground of existence. (Ursula K. Le Guin, The Lathe of Heaven)

Types

Today, homeoteleuton denotes more than Aristotle's original definition.

Near rhyme

As rhyme, homeoteleuton is not very effective. It is the repetition of word endings. Because endings are usually unstressed and rhyme arises from stressed

syllable A syllable is a basic unit of organization within a sequence of speech sounds, such as within a word, typically defined by linguists as a ''nucleus'' (most often a vowel) with optional sounds before or after that nucleus (''margins'', which are ...

s, they do not rhyme well at all. In the following passage The waters rose rapidly, and I dove under quickly. both ''rapidly'' and ''quickly'' end with the

adverbial In English grammar, an adverbial ( abbreviated ) is a word (an adverb) or a group of words (an adverbial clause or adverbial phrase) that modifies or more closely defines the sentence or the verb. (The word ''adverbial'' itself is also used as a ...

ending ''-ly''. Although they end with the same sound, they don't rhyme because the stressed syllable on each word (RA-pid-ly and QUICK-ly) has a different sound. Brinkman, Baba. (2002)
"The Beste Rym I Kan: The Emergence of Rhyme in English"
/ref> However, use of this device still ties words together in a sort of rhyme or echo relationship, even in prose passages: It is important to use all knowledge ethical''ly'', humane''ly'', and loving''ly''. (Carol Pearson, The Hero Within) "Well, sir, here's to plain speak''ing'' and clear understand''ing''." (Caspar Gutman to Sam Spade, Chapter XI (The Fat Man) in Dashiell Hammett, ''The Maltese Falcon'' (1930) "The cheap''er'' the crook, the gaudi''er'' the patt''er''." (Sam Spade to Wilmer, Chapter XII (Merry-Go-Round) in Dashiell Hammett, ''The Maltese Falcon'' (1930)

Scribal error

In the field of

palaeography Palaeography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, UK) or paleography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, US) (ultimately from , , 'old', and , , 'to write') is the study and academic disciplin ...

and

textual criticism Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts (mss) or of printed books. Such texts may rang ...

, homeoteleuton has also come to mean a form of copyist error present in ancient texts. A scribe would be writing out a new copy of a frequently reproduced book, such as the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

. As the scribe was reading the original text, his eyes would skip from one word to the same word on a later line, leaving out a line or two in the transcription. When transcripts were made of the scribe's flawed copy (and not the original) errors are passed on into posterity. An example of this can be found in the Bible, more specifically in I Samuel 11. The

Israelite Israelites were a Hebrew language, Hebrew-speaking ethnoreligious group, consisting of tribes that lived in Canaan during the Iron Age. Modern scholarship describes the Israelites as emerging from indigenous Canaanites, Canaanite populations ...

city of Jabesh-Gilead was under siege by the

Ammon Ammon (; Ammonite language, Ammonite: 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''ʻAmān''; '; ) was an ancient Semitic languages, Semitic-speaking kingdom occupying the east of the Jordan River, between the torrent valleys of Wadi Mujib, Arnon and Jabbok, in present-d ...

ites:

Then Nahash the Ammonite came up and camped against Jabesh-gilead: and all the men of Jabesh said unto Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee. But Nahash the Ammonite answered them, On this ''condition'' I will make a ''covenant'' with you, that I thrust out all your right eyes, and lay it ''for'' a reproach upon all Israel.

Prior passages do not explain Nahash's desire to blind the Israelites, and scholars have been unable to explain this punishment in the context of the Bible. A find from the

Dead Sea scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls, also called the Qumran Caves Scrolls, are a set of List of Hebrew Bible manuscripts, ancient Jewish manuscripts from the Second Temple period (516 BCE – 70 CE). They were discovered over a period of ten years, between ...

, the scroll 4QSam^a, gives the missing beginning to I Samuel 11. Some very recent English translations (such as the TNIV) add the reading in a footnote.

Now Nahash, king of the B'nai Ammon (Ammonites), oppressed the B'nai Gad and the B'nai Reuven with force, and he plucked out every right eye. There was no savior for Israel and there remained not a (single) man among the B'nai Israel beyond the Jordan (river) whose right eye Nahash, king of the B'nai Ammon had not plucked out from him. (Now) there were seven contingents delivered from the hand of the B'nai Ammon. They went to Jabesh Gilead. And so it was about a month (later) that...

History

Types

Near rhyme

Scribal error

References

Further reading