prosopopoeia

Wikipedia

English

Alternative forms

• prosopopeia
• prosopopœia

Etymology

From Ancient Greek προσωποποιία (“dramatization, the putting of speeches into the mouths of characters”).

Noun

prosopopoeia (plural prosopopoeias or prosopopoeiae)

1. (rhetoric) Personifying a person or object when communicating to an audience.
   • 1872, Thomas Hartwell Horne, An Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, Volume 2‎ - Page 334:

     Of the prosopopoeia, or personification, there are two kinds; one, when actions and character are attributed to irrational, or even inanimate objects; the other, when a probable but fictitious speech is assigned to a real character.

2. Personification of an abstraction.

See also

• anthropomorphism