deictic, a. and n.
(ˈdaɪktɪk)
Also deiktic.
[ad. Gr. δεικτικ-ός able to show, showing directly, f. δεικτός vbl. adj. of δείκ-νυ-ναι to show.
The Greek word occurs in Latin medical and rhetorical writers as dicticos, which would give dictic; but the term is purely academic, and the form deictic or deiktic is preferred as more distinctly preserving both in spelling and pronunciation the Greek form. Cf. apodictic, -deictic.]
Directly pointing out, demonstrative; in Logic, applied, after Aristotle, to reasoning which proves directly, as opposed to the elenctic, which proves indirectly. Also in Grammar and as n.
| 1828 Whately Rhet. i. ii. §1 Thirdly into ‘Direct’ and ‘Indirect’ (or reductio ad absurdum)—the Deictic and Elenctic of Aristotle. 1876 T. Le M. Douse Grimm's L. §31. 66 In meaning, the word originally covered all deiktic action irrespective of direction. 1922 O. Jespersen Language xix. 383 The relation between a demonstrative pronoun or a deictic particle and genitival function. 1964 [see anaphora 1 b]. 1970 Archivum Linguisticum I. 6 The only exceptions to this restriction are the gen. dat. sg. fem. and the gen. pl. of the deictic theser. |