paronomasy

English

Etymology

Compare French paronomasie.

Noun

paronomasy (countable and uncountable, plural paronomasies)

1. Archaic form of paronomasia.
   • a 1637, Ben Jonson, Timber: Or, Discoveries Made Upon Men and Matter, published posthumously (1640)

     Marry, we must not play or riot too much with them, as in paronomasies.

   • 1972, Language Quarterly‎^[1], volumes 6-10, page 34:

     Unless, by sheer coincidence, the target language contains a similar word pair, also similar in meaning, the effect of the paronomasy must be lost in the translation.

   • 1974, Michael West, “Scatology and Eschatology: The Heroic Dimensions of Thoreau's Wordplay”, in Publications of the Modern Language Association of, JSTOR:

     Sanctioning etymological speculation, Coleridge urged that his readers be alert to "the equivocal or double meaning of a word," and went so far as to contemplate writing an Apology for Paronomasy, alias Punning

References

• “paronomasy”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.