hapax legomenon
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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English [edit]
Etymology [edit]
From Ancient Greek ἅπαξ λεγόμενον (“(something) said only once”), from ἅπαξ (“once”) and λεγόμενον, passive participle of λέγω.
Pronunciation [edit]
- IPA: /ˌhæpæks lɨˈɡɒmənɒn/
Noun [edit]
hapax legomenon (plural hapax legomena)
- A word occurring only once in a given corpus.
- 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,
- 2000, Steven Pinker, Words and Rules ISBN 0-465-07269-0, 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.
Usage notes [edit]
The corpus in question is generally implied by context. Commonly it will be one of:
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- A known corpus of a given language
- The works of a given author
- A particular work
- A book of the Bible
Synonyms [edit]
Related terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
word occurring only once
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