Wiktionary

hapax legomenon

See also: Hapaxlegomenon, Hapax Legomenon, and hápax legómenon

English

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WOTD – 14 April 2012

Etymology

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From Ancient Greek ἅπαξ λεγόμενον (hápax legómenon, “(something) said only once”), from ἅπαξ (hápax, “once”) and λεγόμενον (legómenon), passive participle of λέγω (légō, “say”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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hapax legomenon (plural hapax legomena)

  1. (linguistics) A word occurring only once in a given corpus.
    Synonym: hapax
    Coordinate terms: googlewhack, nonce word, sui generis
    • 1999, Casey Wayne Davis, Oral Biblical Criticism: The Influence of the Principles of Orality on the Literary Structure of Paul's Epistle to the Philippians, page 89, footnote:
      άγνως is a New Testament hapax legomenon. άγνός occurs two other times in Paul, both occurrences are in 2 Cor.
    • [2000, Steven Pinker, Words and Rules, →ISBN, page 172:
      There is a lovely technical term for a word that appears once in a body of text: a hapax legomenon (plural: hapax legomena), Greek for “once said.” The term comes from philology, the study of old texts.]
    • 2005, Hanna Kahana, Esther: Juxtaposition of the Septuagint Translation with the Hebrew Text, page 129, footnote:
      In our case this means that πρωτοβαθρέω is an absolute hapax legomenon, if one assumes that the occurrences of βάθρον in Isa and διαβάθρη in Sam II are the result of corruptions.
    • 2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide‎[1], page 5:
      The research discovered 510 different terms. Of these 164 (approximately 32%) were hapax legomena (i.e., there was only once instance in the data), while 107 (approximately 21%) were attested by 10 or more citations.

Usage notes

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The corpus in question is generally implied by context. Commonly it will be one of:

  • a known corpus of a given language
  • the works of a given author
  • a particular work
  • a book of the Bible
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Translations

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Further reading

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German

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἅπαξ λεγόμενον (hápax legómenon). See English hapax legomenon.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˌhapaks leˈɡoːmenɔn/

Noun

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hapax legomenon n (strong, genitive hapax legomenon, plural hapax legomena)

  1. Alternative letter-case form of Hapax Legomenon
    • 1994, Jost Gippert, (Please provide the book title or journal name):
      "Ein altgeorgisches hapax legomenon"
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
    • 1848, Ludwig Feuerbach, Das Wesen des Christentums - Zweiter Teil.:
      So entstehen die Werke des Genies immer nur unter ganz besondern, nur einmal so zusammentreffenden Innern und äußern Bedingungen; sie sind hapax legomena. »Einmal ist alles Wahre nur.«
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
    • 1873, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (transl. by Carl Schaarschmidt), Neue Abhandlungen über den menschlichen Verstand - Viertes Buch. Von der Erkenntnis
      Dies muß sich dann ganz ebenso verhalten, als ob das von ihnen Bemerkte zur Zahl der hapax legomena gehörte, dessen, was nur einmal gesagt worden ist, worüber Menagius ein Buch verfassen wollte.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Hungarian

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): [ˈhɒpɒkslɛɡomɛnon]
  • Hyphenation: ha‧pax le‧go‧me‧non

Noun

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hapax legomenon (plural hapax legomenonok)

  1. hapax legomenon
    • 2014, László Grétsy, Anyanyelvi séták: Szavaink, neveink és szólásaink születése, életútja, titkokkal teli világa, Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó, →ISBN, page 34:
      Ahogy meghallottam ezt a naiv gyermeki szóalkotást, elhatároztam, hogy erről írni fogok. Nem annyira magáról a szóról, amely gyönyörűen megmutatja, hogy a kisgyerek hogyan keres és talál is fogódzókat egy általa még nem ismert, többnyire idegen szónak a megértéséhez (pici hó pata), hanem inkább erről a témáról, erről az ösztönös kreativitásról s annak nem csupán egyedi, egyszeri példányairól, hapax legomenonjairól, hanem többé-kevésbé társadalmivá is vált alkotásairól.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Declension

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Inflection (stem in -o-, back harmony)
singular plural
nominative hapax legomenon hapax legomenonok
accusative hapax legomenont hapax legomenonokat
dative hapax legomenonnak hapax legomenonoknak
instrumental hapax legomenonnal hapax legomenonokkal
causal-final hapax legomenonért hapax legomenonokért
translative hapax legomenonná hapax legomenonokká
terminative hapax legomenonig hapax legomenonokig
essive-formal hapax legomenonként hapax legomenonokként
essive-modal — —
inessive hapax legomenonban hapax legomenonokban
superessive hapax legomenonon hapax legomenonokon
adessive hapax legomenonnál hapax legomenonoknál
illative hapax legomenonba hapax legomenonokba
sublative hapax legomenonra hapax legomenonokra
allative hapax legomenonhoz hapax legomenonokhoz
elative hapax legomenonból hapax legomenonokból
delative hapax legomenonról hapax legomenonokról
ablative hapax legomenontól hapax legomenonoktól
non-attributive
possessive - singular 		hapax legomenoné hapax legomenonoké
non-attributive
possessive - plural 		hapax legomenonéi hapax legomenonokéi
Possessive forms of hapax legomenon
possessor single possession multiple possessions
1st person sing. hapax legomenonom hapax legomenonjaim
2nd person sing. hapax legomenonod hapax legomenonjaid
3rd person sing. hapax legomenonja hapax legomenonjai
1st person plural hapax legomenonunk hapax legomenonjaink
2nd person plural hapax legomenonotok hapax legomenonjaitok
3rd person plural hapax legomenonjuk hapax legomenonjaik

Spanish

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Noun

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hapax legomenon m (uncountable)

  1. Alternative form of hápax legómenon
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