hephthemimer Anc. Pros.
(hɛfθɪˈmɪmə(r))
[ad. late L. hephthemimerēs (-is) (Diomedes, Servius), a. Gr. ἑϕθηµιµερής ‘containing seven halves’, f. ἑπτ(α- seven + ἡµι- half + µέρος part, -µερης -partite. So mod.F. hephthémimère. Also commonly used in the Latin form; sometimes contracted hephthemim.]
A group or catalectic colon of seven half-feet; the part of a hexameter line preceding the cæsura when this occurs in the middle of the fourth foot, as in ‘Inferretque deos Latio · genus unde Latinum’.
Hence hephtheˈmimeral a., of or pertaining to a hephthemimeris, as in hephthemimeral cæsura: see the example above.
| 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Hephthemimeris. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl., Hephthemimeris, in the Greek and Latin poetry, a sort of verse consisting of three feet and a syllable; that is, of seven half feet. 1871 Public Sch. Lat. Gram. §226. 464–5 Next in power to the penthemimeral is the hephthemimeral or semiseptenarian caesura. Ibid., In this verse, Quid faciat {vb} laetas {vb} segetes {vb} quo sidere terram..the principal pause is at the hephthemimeris. Ibid. §232. 470 Trochaic Hephthemimer. |