English
hypercatalexis
Hypercatalexis comes from Latin hypercatalēcticus, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *upér ‘over’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*upér‘over’reconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEὑπερκαταληκτικόςhuperkatalēktikós
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhypercatalēcticus
- Englishtodayhypercatalexis
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*upér‘over’reconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEὑπερκαταληκτικόςhuperkatalēktikós
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhypercatalēcticus
- Englishtodayhypercatalexis
The story
Coined in the late 1880s as a back-formation from hypercatalectic, from Latin hypercatalēcticus, from Ancient Greek ὑπερκαταληκτικός (huperkatalēktikós), from ὑπερ- (huper-, “over”) + καταληκτικός (katalēktikós, “incomplete”)
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *upér ‘over’
over, super, supreme, summary, uber, soprano, supra, consummate, summa, 20 more
Today it means
noun The addition of one or two syllables to the last foot of a verse
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *upér / hypercatalexis