ETYMOLOGY. FIGURES OF. Terms employed in etymological discussions. They must lie care fully distinguished from the figures of rhetoric or speech, of prosody, and of syntax, although there are instances in which the different classes overlap. The most important figures of etymol ogy are as follows: Aphicresis (Gk. riorapecris, a taking away) is the loss of the initial letter or syllable of a word, as Sanskrit stha, 'ye are,' but Greek curl, Latin estis: Sanskrit kuddfiln, hoe, lint Singhalese mirth( ; English 'low for allow. Apocope (IIk. drotconui, a cutting off) is the same process at the end of a word as Greek rap, beside rapci ef. Sanskrit p(ir) Latin far, 'do,' face; French Ind, 'beautiful,' hut Latin beThim I )1(1 high German hirti, 'shepherd.' lint German Hirt: Avesta raoyna, 'oil,' hut Ka shani Persian rn. beside rnya a. This phenome non is due in almost every ease to the weakening and ultimate disappearanee of the final vowel or syllable on aceount of the stress-accent in the preceding part of the word. Assimilation (Lat similarity) is the change undergone by sounds to make them harmonize with other sounds in the same word, and it may be either regressive, assimilating the second sound to the first, as Greek aortIraros, 'sweetest,' beside yXu KOraros, Latin quinque, 'five,' but Greek r hire ; or progressive, assimilating the first sound to the second, as Greek 069fs, name of a sea-goddess, beside 0/rts ; Old Church Slavic mrariya, 'ant,' but Greek ttypttn. Contamination (Lat. contami natio, defilement) is a composite but not com pound word, influenced by different words, as German heischen, `to demand,' which is a con tamination of Old High German ciscdn, to de mand,' and heizzam (German heissett), `to call.' is sometimes difficult to draw the line between contamination and the far more frequent phe nomenon of analogy (q.v.). Contraction (Lat. contraetio, a drawing together) is the coalescence of two or more vowels into one, as Greek TLIAC.) gee, we honor,' for ; TLg IAL, should honor,' for *1-44dott4t; Latin copia, 'abundance,' for *co-opia. Crasis (Gk. Kpacrts, mixture) is the combination of two vowels into one, this change being in most eases only an artificial subdivision of vowel-contraction, as Greek Opolioos, 'vanished,' for TO 6.5a; ; Latin eunetes, 'all,' for *coinnetus.
Dissimilation (from Lat. dissimitis, unlike) is the reverse of assimilation, treated above, and is therefore the change undergone by sounds to make them different from other sounds in the same word, either regressively, as Greek OnXnrijp, 'hunter,' beside Onons-hp; Italian veleno, 'poison,' beside veneno; or progressively, as Latin fray/o, 'I burn,' beside fragro; Old High German tortol Ham, English turtle -dove, but Latin tartar; dialectic Italian honer°, 'I count,' beside nonzero. Dissimilation often involves loss of sounds, as Latin mentor, 'marble,' beside marnior; Span ish cribo, 'sieve,' but Latin cribrum Sanskrit tisthati, 'he stands,' but Avesta biiitaiti, Latin sistit; Latin spondco, 'I pledge,' but perfect spopondi. This tendency forms the balers of Grassmann's law (q.v.). Epenthesis (Gk. Irle (lens, insertion), or more scientifically, anaptyxis (Gk. avarru;ts, unfolding), is the insertion of a letter or syllable, as Latin drachanza, from Greek Spaxioz, 'drachma,' 1.4ecnn43pla, midday, for "mecry4e)pla; English umberella for umbrella. Gemi nation (Lat. genzina tic), a doubling) is a doub ling of consonants, as Greek Icrxupp6s, 'strong,' beside lcrxvpos ; Latin cuppa, 'tub,' beside cope ; German Himmel, 'heaven,' beside Middle High German bitnel. It is normally accompanied by the shortening of a preceding long vowel. Hap lology (from Gk. itrXbos, simple, and Vryos, word) or hapiolaly (from Gk. lerX6os simple, and speech) is the suppression of one of two homo phonous syllables in a word, as Greek cii295opek, `pitcher,' for * 4400opctis; Latin semodius, peck.' for *semimodius; English dynometer, beside dynamometer. Hiatus (Lat.. gap) is the juxta position of two or more vowels without contrac tion, as Greek rpochao, 'I lead forth': Latin ca, `she.' Gothic (think, 'I increased,' from eftkan. Metathesis ,(Gk. percb9fols, transposition) is the transposition of letters in a word, one of the most frequent of all the figures of etymology, as Greek cdpros, 'strength? beside Kparos xath v, 'tunic,' beside teet6v; Latin sterno. 'I strew,' beside the perfect strari ; lerigio 'religion,' beside religio: coaela, 'sewer,' beside cloaca ; Italian crape, `goat,' beside capra; grolia 'glory,' beside gloria.