‖ hysteron proteron, n. (a. and adv.)
(ˈhɪstərɒn ˈprɒtərɒn)
[late L. (Servius), a. Gr. ὕστερον πρότερον, the latter (put as) the former; called also πρωθύστερον (f. πρῶτος first), and ὑστερολογία (see hysterology1).]
1. Gram. and Rhet. A figure of speech in which the word or phrase that should properly come last is put first.
| 1565 Jewel Repl. Harding 476 In these woordes, ‘Take ye: Eate ye: This is my Bodie’, They have founde a Figure called Hysteron Proteron. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xii[i.] (Arb.) 181 Another manner of disordered speach..we call it in English prouerbe, the cart before the horse, the Greeks call it Histeron proteron, we name it the Preposterous..as he..said: ‘My dame that bred me vp and bare me in her wombe.’ Whereas the bearing is before the bringing vp. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Hysteron Proteron, a preposterous manner of speaking or writing, expressing that first which should be last. 1883 March A.S. Gram. 141 Transposition..of clauses [is called] hysteron-proteron. |
† 2. Inversion of the natural or logical order; as by placing the conclusion before the premisses, etc.
| 1620 Granger Div. Logike 318 Inverted Method, is when particulars are disposed before universals: also, when the parts..are not handled after the same order, by which they were laid downe, which is called Hysteron Proteron. |
3. generally. The position or arrangement of things in the reverse of their natural or rational order; ‘putting the cart before the horse’; topsy-turvydom.
| 1589 Cogan Haven Health To Rdr. ¶¶iv, Contrariwise vsing Hysteron Proteron..as I haue heard say of a gentle⁓man who..would not begin his meale with potage, but insteed of cheese would eat his potage last. 1648–99 J. Beaumont Psyche i. lxxxv, How wild A Hysteron Proteron's this, which Nature crosses, And far above the top the bottom tosses. |
B. attrib. or adj.
| 1646 Unhappy Game Scotch & Eng. 14 Those jugling Husteron Proteron trickes. 1689 Hickeringill Ceremony Monger Wks. 1716 II. 418 Shall Christians be like that Histeron-Proteron-Herb, which Physicians as foolishly call Filius ante Patrem? a 1734 North Exam. i. ii. (1740) 88 This hysteron proteron Stuff, Causes without Effects, and Effects before Causes. |
† C. as adv. By or with an inversion of the natural order of things; topsy-turvy; vice versa.
| 1600 W. Watson Quodlibets Relig. & State (1602) 47 The Catholicke religion will be vtterly extinguished and perish, and so by consequent all runne Hysteron Protheron. 1617 Middleton & Rowley Fair Quar. i. i. C iij, Wisemen begets fooles, and fooles are the fathers To many wise Children. Histeron, Proteron, A great scholler may beget an Ideot, And from the plow tayle may come a great scholler. |
Hence ˈhystero-ˈproterize v. intr., to use hysteron proteron.
| a 1834 Coleridge in Southey Life Wesley (1846) I. 324 We must explain the force of the horse by the motion of the cart-wheels, and hystero-proterize with a vengeance! |