Words are of two kinds, simple and double. By simple I mean those
composed of non-significant elements, such as {gamma eta}. By double
or compound, those composed either of a significant and non-significant
element (though within the whole word no element is significant), or
of elements that are both significant. A word may likewise be triple,
quadruple, or multiple in form, like so many Massilian expressions, e.g.
'Hermo-caico-xanthus who prayed to Father Zeus>.'
Every word is either current, or strange, or metaphorical, or
ornamental, or newly-coined, or lengthened, or contracted, or altered.
By a current or proper word I mean one which is in general use among
a people; by a strange word, one which is in use in another country.
Plainly, therefore, the same word may be at once strange and current,
but not in relation to the same people. The word {sigma iota gamma
upsilon nu omicron nu}, 'lance,' is to the Cyprians a current term but
to us a strange one.
Metaphor is the application of an alien name by transference either from
genus to species, or from species to genus, or from species to species,
or by analogy, that is, proportion. Thus from genus to species, as:
'There lies my ship'; for lying at anchor is a species of lying. From
species to genus, as: 'Verily ten thousand noble deeds hath Odysseus
wrought'; for ten thousand is a species of large number, and is here
used for a large number generally. From species to species, as: 'With
blade of bronze drew away the life,' and 'Cleft the water with the
vessel of unyielding bronze.' Here {alpha rho upsilon rho alpha iota},
'to draw away,' is used for {tau alpha mu epsilon iota nu}, 'to cleave,'
and {tau alpha mu epsilon iota nu} again for {alpha rho upsilon alpha
iota},--each being a species of taking away. Analogy or proportion is
when the second term is to the first as the fourth to the third. We
may then use the fourth for the second, or the second for the fourth.
Sometimes too we qualify the metaphor by adding the term to which the
proper word is relative. Thus the cup is to Dionysus as the shield to
Ares. The cup may, therefore, be called 'the shield of Dionysus,' and
the shield 'the cup of Ares.' Or, again, as old age is to life, so is
evening to day. Evening may therefore be called 'the old age of
the day,' and old age, 'the evening of life,' or, in the phrase
of Empedocles, 'life's setting sun.' For some of the terms of the
proportion there is at times no word in existence; still the metaphor
may be used. For instance, to scatter seed is called sowing: but the
action of the sun in scattering his rays is nameless. Still this process
bears to the sun the same relation as sowing to the seed. Hence the
expression of the poet 'sowing the god-created light.' There is another
way in which this kind of metaphor may be employed. We may apply an
alien term, and then deny of that term one of its proper attributes; as
if we were to call the shield, not 'the cup of Ares,' but 'the wineless
cup.'
{An ornamental word...}
A newly-coined word is one which has never been even in local use, but
is adopted by the poet himself. Some such words there appear to be: as
{epsilon rho nu upsilon gamma epsilon sigma}, 'sprouters,' for {kappa
epsilon rho alpha tau alpha}, 'horns,' and {alpha rho eta tau eta rho},
'supplicator,' for {iota epsilon rho epsilon upsilon sigma}, 'priest.'
A word is lengthened when its own vowel is exchanged for a longer one,
or when a syllable is inserted. A word is contracted when some part of
it is removed. Instances of lengthening are,--{pi omicron lambda eta
omicron sigma} for {pi omicron lambda epsilon omega sigma}, and {Pi eta
lambda eta iota alpha delta epsilon omega} for {Pi eta lambda epsilon
iota delta omicron upsilon}: of contraction,--{kappa rho iota}, {delta
omega}, and {omicron psi}, as in {mu iota alpha / gamma iota nu epsilon
tau alpha iota / alpha mu phi omicron tau episilon rho omega nu /
omicron psi}.
An altered word is one in which part of the ordinary form is left
unchanged, and part is re-cast; as in {delta epsilon xi iota-tau epsilon
rho omicron nu / kappa alpha tau alpha / mu alpha zeta omicron nu},
{delta epsilon xi iota tau epsilon rho omicron nu} is for {delta epsilon
xi iota omicron nu}.
[Nouns in themselves are either masculine, feminine, or neuter.
Masculine are such as end in {nu}, {rho}, {sigma}, or in some letter
compounded with {sigma},--these being two, and {xi}. Feminine, such as
end in vowels that are always long, namely {eta} and {omega}, and--of
vowels that admit of lengthening--those in {alpha}. Thus the number of
letters in which nouns masculine and feminine end is the same; for {psi}
and {xi} are equivalent to endings in {sigma}. No noun ends in a mute
or a vowel short by nature. Three only end in {iota},--{mu eta lambda
iota}, {kappa omicron mu mu iota}, {pi epsilon pi epsilon rho iota}:
five end in {upsilon}. Neuter nouns end in these two latter vowels; also
in {nu} and {sigma}.]