Friday, February 19, 2010

Elision


elision \i-ˈli-zhən\ noun: 1 a. the use of a speech form that lacks a final or initial sound which a variant speech form has (as ’s instead of is in there’s), b. the omission of an unstressed vowel or syllable in a verse to achieve a uniform metrical pattern,
2. the act or an instance of omitting something; omission

elide \i-ˈlīd\ transitive verb: 1 a. to suppress or alter (as a vowel or syllable) by elision, b. to strike out (as a written word),
2 a. to leave out of consideration; omit, b. curtail; abridge

Etymology: Latin elidere to strike out, from e- + laedere to injure by striking

Elision reminds me of the name Elijah.

1 comment:

Vicki Peter said...

I like the name Elijah. And then you can shorten it to Eli, which is also a remarkably pretty boy's name.

Epic poetry makes me happy because then I can be all like, "THERE'S AN ELISION IN THE FOURTH LINE ISN'T THERE?" to my Classics teacher, just for the sake of saying "elision."