Hypocatastasis

Hypocatastasis is a

figure of speech A figure of speech or rhetorical figure is a word or phrase that intentionally deviates from straightforward language use or Denotation, literal meaning to produce a rhetorical or intensified effect (emotionally, aesthetically, intellectually, et ...

that declares or implies a resemblance, representation or comparison. It differs from a

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide, or obscure, clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are usually meant to cr ...

, because in a metaphor the two nouns are both named and given; while, in hypocatastasis, only one is named and the other is implied, or as it were, is put down underneath out of sight. Hence hypocatastasis is an implied resemblance or representation: that is an implied simile or metaphor. A hypocatastasis has more force than a metaphor or simile, and expresses as it were a superlative degree of resemblance. Attribution for the creation of the term is given derisively to a Mr. Lord by G. Bush in 1850. The latter accuses the former of inventing this category of Biblical comparisons which do not seem to fit into the standard categories of metaphor or

simile A simile () is a type of figure of speech that directly ''compares'' two things. Similes are often contrasted with metaphors, where similes necessarily compare two things using words such as "like", "as", while metaphors often create an implicit c ...

. Since then the term has mostly been confined to analysis of Biblical rhetoric, and it has never migrated to general public usage. It does not appear in the 2009 version of the

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

. Bush says of Lord's term:

The Hypocatastasis is the substitution, without a formal notice, of agents and objects of one sphere, or of one species, in the place of the persons or objects of another, as in Is. iii. 15, "What mean ye that ye crush my people, and grind the faces of the poor?" These acts, says Mr. L., are not literally impracticable, and therefore are not used metaphorically. They are violent and extraordinary, and are employed by ''substitution'', to signify analogous acts of extreme oppression and tyranny. talics in original/blockquote> Bullinger gives the following example: one may say to another, “You are ''like'' a beast.” This would be simile, tamely stating a fact. If, however, he said, “You ''are'' a beast” that would be metaphor. But, if he said simply, “Beast!” that would be hypocatastasis, for the other part of the simile or metaphor (“you”), would be implied and not stated. This figure, therefore, is calculated to arouse the mind and attract and excite the attention to the greatest extent.

See also
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Analogy Analogy is a comparison or correspondence between two things (or two groups of things) because of a third element that they are considered to share. In logic, it is an inference or an argument from one particular to another particular, as oppose ...
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Description Description is any type of communication that aims to make vivid a place, object, person, group, or other physical entity. It is one of four rhetorical modes (also known as ''modes of discourse''), along with exposition, argumentation, and narr ...
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Metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide, or obscure, clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are usually meant to cr ...
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Poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

Notes
Figures of speech Style (fiction) Narrative techniques Word play {{rhetoric-stub