hypallage

[hi-pal-uh-jee, hahy-]

noun

Rhetoric.

1. the reversal of the expected syntactic relation between two words, as in “her beauty's face” for “her face's beauty.”

hypallage

/ haɪˈpæləˌdʒiː /

noun

1. rhetoric a figure of speech in which the natural relations of two words in a statement are interchanged, as in the fire spread the wind

Word History and Origins

Origin of hypallage¹

1580–90; < Latin < Greek hypallagḗ interchange, equivalent to hyp- hyp- + allagḗ change ( all- all- + ag- (stem of ágein to lead; -agogue ) + -ē noun suffix)

Word History and Origins

Origin of hypallage¹

C16: via Late Latin from Greek hupallagē interchange, from _hypo- + allassein to exchange

Example Sentences

The usual explanation, which makes insertas an epithet transferred by a sort of hypallage from Luna to fenestras, is extremely violent, and makes the word little more than a repetition of se fundebat.

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Professor R. J. Tarrant points out to me the hypallage in this passage.

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The epithet is, by hypallage, transferred from the person to the dew or cold sweat which ‘dips’ or moistens his body.

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The rhetoricians call this "hypallage," because one word as it were is substituted for another.

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