{{Short description|Feigned refusal of something earnestly desired}} {{Too abstract |date=December 2013}} {{Wiktionary|accismus}} '''Accismus''' is a feigned refusal of something earnestly desired.<ref name=eb1823/><ref name=buy>[http://rhetoric.byu.edu/Figures/A/accismus.htm "Accismus"]</ref><ref name=garner>''Garner's Modern American Usage'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=FwmQpyibKkAC&pg=PA877 p. 877]</ref>
The 1823 ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' writes that accismus may sometimes be considered as a virtue or sometimes a vice.<ref name=eb1823>[https://books.google.com/books?id=-icoAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA125 "Accismus"] in 1823 ''Encyclopædia Britannica''</ref>
The Latin term comes from the Greek word is "ἀκκισμός", which, according to ''Britannica'', was "supposed to be formed from Acco (Greek: Ἀκκώ), the name of a foolish old woman, famous in antiquity for an affectation of this kind."<ref name=eb1823/> (An 1806 ''Lexicon manuale Graeco-Latinum et Latino-Graecum'' agrees with this derivation.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=z1k-AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA24]: *Ἀκκώ - nomen mulieris, quae tempestive recusare videbatur, ut deinde melius obtineret *Ἀκκίζομαι - simulate recuso, os, vultumque in morem mulieris Acco compono</ref> However an 1820 ''Lexicon Graeco-Latinum'' associates Acco with idle occupation, e.g., chatting with other women or looking into a mirror, hence the Greek coinages ἀκκίζομαι and ἀκκισμός).<ref name=lgl>''Lexicon Graeco-Latinum'', 1820, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Dgc2AQAAMAAJ&pg=PR53 p. 90] *Ἀκκώ - mulier quaedam notae stultitiae, quae solita sit ad speculum cum imagine sua, perinde atque cum alia muliere, confabulari; ut hinc vulgo, quae stultius aut ineptius aliquid agerent, Ἀκκίζειν dicerentur, et Ἀκκοῦς nomine compellarentur. Illud etiam moribus hujus mulieris adfuit, ut recusaret quae tamen cupiebat. *Ἀκκίζομαι - simulate recuso, ficte aspernor, fingo me nolle quum maxime velim. Est etiam generaliter, simulatione utor, idem quod προσποιοῦμαι ... Saepe de mulieribus dicitur et scortis, quae ut pluris addicant, morosiora se praestant, nec facile se exorari sinunt. *Ἀκκισμός - ficta recusatio, simulatio qua quis utitur fingens se accipere nolle quod tamen vult. </ref>
More particularly, in rhetorics, accismus is a figure of speech, a figure of refutation, and a type of irony.<ref name=eb1823/><ref name=buy/><ref name=mwel>[https://books.google.com/books?id=eKNK1YwHcQ4C&pg=PA7&dq=Accismus+aesop "Accismus"], in ''Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia Of Literature''</ref>
==Examples== *(behaviour) ''Britannica'' cites Oliver Cromwell's refusal of the crown of England as an example of accismus.<ref name=eb1823/> *(behaviour) ''Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia Of Literature'' cites the dismissal of the grapes by the fox in ''The Fox and the Grapes'' as an example.<ref name=mwel/> *When receiving gifts or honours, accismus is used to demonstrate modesty: "I am not worthy of the honor."<ref name=garner/> *(ironic utterance) "I couldn't possibly accept such charity from you."<ref name=buy/>
==See also== *Sour grapes (disambiguation) <!-- see talk -->
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Figures of speech Category:Irony
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