apostrophe, apos trophy, apostrophus

[In Sw. apostrof; Dan. apostroph; Sp. apostrofe; Port, apostrophe (Rhet.), apostrofo (Gram.); Ital. apostrofe (Rhet.), apostrofo (Gram.); Fr. & Lat. apos trop he; Gr. ἀποστροφή ( apostrophe ) = (1) a turning away; (2) Rhet., an apostrophe; ἀπόστροφος ( apostrophos ) = as adj., turned away from; as subst., an apostrophe ( in gram.); ἀποστρέφω ( αpostrephō ) = to turn back: ἀπό ( apo ) = from, and στρέφω ( strepho ) = to twist, to turn. Or the rhetorical apostrophe may be from ἀπό ( apo ) and στροφή ( strophe ) = a turning; στρέφω ( strephō ) = to turn.] A. In the forms apostrophe and *apos trophy: Rhetoric: A figure of speech by which, асcording to Quintilian, a speaker turns from the rest of his audience to one person, and addre es him singly. Now, however, the signification is wider, and is made to include cases in which an impa ioned orator addre es the absent, the dead, or even things inanimate, as if they were present and able to hear and understand his words. When Jesus, in the midst of an addre to his apostles in general, suddenly turned to Peter and said, "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat" (Luke xxii. 24-37), the apostrophe was in the Quintilian sense. The following are examples of the same figure in the wider meaning:(a) Living, but absent. ""Tis done but yesterday a king, And arm'd with kings to strive- And now thou art a namele thing, So abject, yet alive." (b) Dead. Byron: Ode to Napoleon. "My mother, when I learn'd that thou wast dead, Say, wast thou conscious of the tears I shed?" Cowper: On Receipt of my Mother's Picture. (c) Inanimate. "Why leap ye, ye high hills?"-Ps. lxviii. 16. 263 B. In the forms apostrophe and * apostro phus: 1. Gram. The substitution of a mark like this (') for one or more letters omitted from a word, as tho ' for though , ' Twas for It was , king's for kinges . (See No. 2.) 2. The mark indicating such substitution, especially in the case of the po e ive. The old po e ive singular was es, and the apostrophe stands for the omitted e. Thus Chaucer has the "Knightes," the "Monkes," and the "Clerkes" Tales, for what now would be written the "Knight's," "Monk's," and "Clerk's" Tales. The old spelling is preserved in the word Wednesday = Wodenes day = Woden's day. The name apostrophe is given also to the mark in the po e ive plural, as brethren's, a a ins'. "Many laudable attempts have been made by abbreviating words with apostrophes , and by lopping poly syllables, leaving one or two words at most. -Swift . Two apostrophes (") are usually employed to mark the ending of a quotation, the commencement of the quotation being indicated by inverted com in as ("); thus The Mosaic narrative commences with a declaration that "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."-Buck land: Geol . , vol. 1., p. 20. More rarely only one is used, thus The note of interrogation must not be used after indirect questions; as, 'he asked me who called.Bain: Eng . Gram . (ed. 1874), p. 203. When there is a quotation within a quotation, one apostrophe is generally employed, thus "I say that the Word of God contain eth whatsoever things may fall into any part of man's life. For, as Solomon saith in the second chapter of the Proverbs, My son, if thou receive my words,' ., 'then thou shalt understand justice and judginent, and equity, and every good way.-T. C., quoted in Note to Hooker's Eccles. Pol . (ed, 1841), p. 232.