Paronomasia

Successive use or frequent recurrence of the same initial letter or sound at the beginning of two or more words; specifically, the regular recurrence of an initial letter or sound in the accented parts of words in poetry; initial rime. Figures kindred to Alliteration are the following:

Definitions.

I. Rime, a correspondence of sounds in two or more words, especially in poetry; specifically, the occurrence of the same vowel, and succeeding consonant sounds (if there be any), in accented syllables at the end of two lines, or more rarely at the beginning of two or more words. Under the head of rime may be mentioned assonance—correspondence of the vowels, but not of the consonants, in riming syllables, such as "nice" and "night," "feel" and "need"—used in the Romance languages. In a wider sense assonance signifies correspondence of sound in general.

II. Play upon Words (pun, paronomasia, quibble), a combination of words of similar sound producing a witticism or jest. Pun is more specifically the witty use of a word in two senses, usually antithetic and more or less incongruous, in which the play of thought turns chiefly on the sense; or less strictly, a play on words of the same sound but of different meanings. But the most frequent and comprehensive term for these figures in ancient rhetoric is paronomasia, which, however, in the modern application of the term, signifies any use for effect of words similar in sound, but differing in meaning; a play on words in which the similarity of sound is the prominent characteristic. In Hebrew there is found in ḳimḥi's commentary on Micah, 1:10 the expression

Alliteration in the Old Testament.

Alliteration being the simplest and probably the oldest of the figures produced by similarity of sound, is also the most frequent of these figures in the Old Testament. Here its proper sphere is in syntactically coordinated words, as a rule synonyms, or related to one another in meaning, where, in not a few cases, it forms set phrases. The force of Alliteration in these combinations is, as in other literatures, that of emphasis and impressiveness:

Rime and Assonance.

Excluding the congruence of sound in the flexional endings, and confining it to the cases in which the similarity is in a stem-syllable, the number of instances of rime in the Old Testament is comparatively small, and it is always combined with the assonance of the whole word:

Of assonance there is in Hebrew—in which the consonantal element predominates—hardly any instance, except perhaps

Paronomasia.

While in Alliteration and rime the stress lies on the form, in the play upon words both form and meaning come into consideration. Alliteration and rime combine, preferably, synonyms and coordinated ideas, while playing upon words or punning implies some surprising contrast.

The principal classes of play upon words in the Old Testament may be summed up as follows:

• 1.Where the words are the same or similar in form (homonyms) and the difference of meaning is contrasted:
• 2.Where the same verb is used in different voices:
• 3.Where the words differ in form:

Play upon Proper Names.

A name, as representing something individual, is especially a tempting mark for a witticism or pun. In Hebrew, moreover (as also in the other Semitic languages), the proper names are still in living contact with the language; their meaning and form are still clear and transparent. Not only are thoughts and sentiments attached to proper names (compare the blessing of Noah, Genesis 9:27, and that of Jacob, Genesis 49), but even most of thehistorical lore is grouped around them. The names of persons, tribes, and places are made to suggest the character attributed to them, or the important events connected with them. The plays upon proper names in the Old Testament may therefore be divided into two classes:

• (1)Etymological explanations of names; in many of which it is apparent that merely a folk-etymology is aimed at, which is satisfied with the agreement of sound between the name and the appellative that is to explain it. This is the case, for instance, when Genesis 5:29
• (2)Plays either upon the sense or upon the sound of proper names: