Catahreza ( catahrezis , from ancient Greek κατάχρησις - “abuse”) is a trope or a stylistic mistake , a wrong or unusual use of combinations of words with incompatible literal lexical meanings .
In catahrese, there is a combination of words in a figurative sense despite the incompatibility of their literal meanings, so that in a literal sense there is a logical inconsistency, a combination of contradictory (logically incompatible) concepts. The cause of the contradiction is an unusual combination of words in a figurative meaning or the simultaneous use of a word in a literal and figurative meaning. A particular case can be considered the use of the word is not in accordance with its etymological meaning.
Catahreza is an ancient Greek term. In Latin rhetoric, the word abusio was used .
Catahreses arise in the process of semantic development of the language, its nominative means. At first, they can be perceived as cases of misuse. Subsequently, of course, under the concept of cathrese these cases can only be summed up with its expansive interpretation. Talking about cathresis in the strict sense is possible only in those cases, with respect to the word used in a figurative sense, where the memory of its direct meaning is still preserved. Any use of a word is considered a cathretic of this kind, in which its etymological meaning is forgotten, for example, in the case of the expression red ink, the internal form of the word ink is no longer realized, its connection with the word black . Other examples: colored linen , fire a gun ( fire a gun ), electric horseback , travel the sea , the bottom of the mountain . In the works of ancient theorists of rhetoric (for example, Quintillian ), this was called the necessary cath cutter ( lat. Abusio necessaria ) - “when the name nearest is transferred to a person who does not have his name”.
Examples
Examples of a cachal cutter, with respect to which the memory of the violation of meaning is preserved, are those that are created intentionally for an expressive effect. Many phraseological units are among them: samovar gold , when the cancer whistles , there are eyes , green noise .
Many riddles are based on the effect of a cathrease, for example, about currants: “Is it red? No, it is black. Why is she white? Because "green".
Catacrease is used in the literature:
In idle night live burn in me
Snakes hearty pangs- A. S. Pushkin . Memory
In the Strugatsky story "The Interns ", Yurkovsky, hinting that courage and rationality are incompatible, says: "Reasonable courage is a cathrete."
At the same time, the author may not have a cut-cutter, for example: “On the other hand, he sat with his wide arm, bold features and glittering eyes on his head , Count Osterman-Tolstoy ...” ( Leo Tolstoy . War and Peace ).
Unconsciously speaking or writing a cathrease becomes a pathway, a stylistic mistake, a defect in speech. In this case, the logical incompatibility of the connected images creates a comic effect that is usually not provided for by the author: “the right wing of the faction has split into several streams”, “let the sharks of imperialism not extend their paws to us”, “plow like a slave to the gallery”.
Links
- Katahreza - an article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia .