paroemiac

English

Alternative forms

• paremiac, (archaic) parœmiac

Etymology

From Ancient Greek παροιμιακόν (paroimiakón, noun) and παροιμιακός (paroimiakós, adjective), from παροιμία (paroimía, “proverb”).

Noun

paroemiac (countable and uncountable, plural paroemiacs)

1. A catalectic anapestic dimeter.
   • 1894, Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments - Volume 6, page 20:

     Two successive paroemiacs were admissible only in anapaests of this 'free' or lyric character (n. on 86—120). These paroemiacs are purely spondaic; as 'free' anapaests also admitted the converse license, of resolving the long syllables, except the last, of the paroemiac.

   • 1896, Harvard Studies in Classical Philology - Volume 7, page 142:

     The metrical differences between march and melic anapaests are differences in respect of feet, caesura, continuity, use of the paroemiac, and catalexis.

   • 2007, Mark Griffith, The Authenticity of Prometheus Bound, →ISBN, page 72:

     It might be objected that the ratio depends on the exigencies of the drama, that e.g. short anapaestic passages of only half-a-dozen or so metra plus their paroemiac might be required in some plays, not in others, and thus lower the ratio for those plays.

Anagrams

• copraemia, copræmia