# Correption

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{{short description|Poetic device}}
{{overcolored|date=April 2026}}
In Latin and Greek poetry, '''correption''' ({{langx|la|correptiō}} {{IPA|la|kɔrˈrɛpt̪ioː|}}, "a shortening")<ref>{{L&S|correptio|correptio|ref}}</ref>  is the shortening of a [long vowel](/source/long_vowel) at the end of one word before a [vowel](/source/vowel) at the beginning of the next.<ref name=Stanford>{{cite book|last=Stanford|first=W.B.|title=Homer: Odyssey I-XII|year=2009|publisher=Duckworth|isbn=978-1853995026|pages=lv|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZyEJAAAACAAJ}}</ref>  Vowels next to each other in neighboring words are in [hiatus](/source/hiatus_(linguistics)).

[Homer](/source/Homer) uses correption in [dactylic hexameter](/source/dactylic_hexameter):

* {{lang|grc|Ἄνδρα μοι ἔννεπε, Μοῦσα, πολύτροπον, ὃς μάλα πολλὰ<br>πλάγχθ'''η, ἐ'''πεὶ Τροίης ἱερὸν πτολίεθρον ἔπερσε·}}<br>— ''[Odyssey](/source/Odyssey)'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0136:book=1:card=2 1.1-2]
* Tell me, O Muse, of the man of many devices, who wandered full<br>many ways after he had sacked the sacred citadel of Troy.<br>— [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0136 translation by A.T. Murray]

Here the sequence η ε in bold must be pronounced as ε ε to preserve the ''long—short—short'' [syllable weight](/source/syllable_weight) sequence of a [dactyl](/source/dactyl_(poetry)). Thus, the scansion of the second line is thus:

'''{{color|steelblue|πλαγχ θε,}} {{color|darkgreen|ε}}''' {{pipe}} {{color|darkgreen|πει}} {{color|saddlebrown|Τροι}} {{pipe}} {{color|saddlebrown|η ς}}{{color|steelblue|ι ε}} {{pipe}} {{color|steelblue|ρον}} {{color|darkgreen|πτο λι}} {{pipe}} {{color|darkgreen|εθ ρο ν}}{{color|saddlebrown|ε}} {{pipe}} {{color|saddlebrown|περ σε}}

==Attic==

Typically, in Homeric meter, a [syllable](/source/syllable) is scanned long or "[closed](/source/Syllable)" when a vowel is followed by two or more consonants. However, in [Attic Greek](/source/Attic_Greek), a short vowel followed by a [plosive](/source/plosive) and a [liquid consonant](/source/liquid_consonant) or [nasal stop](/source/nasal_stop) remains a short or "[open](/source/Syllable)" syllable.<ref name=Smyth>{{cite book|last=Smyth|first=Herbert|title=Greek Grammar|year=1984|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=0674362500|pages=35|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M3EyjIa6IPgC&pg=PA10}}</ref>  This is called '''Attic correption''', sometime known by its Latin name ''correptio Attica''.

Therefore, the first syllable of a word like δᾰ&#x301;κρυ could be scanned as "δά {{pipe}} κρυ" (open/short), exhibiting Attic correption, or as "δάκ {{pipe}} ρυ" (closed/long), in keeping with the conventions of Homeric verse.

==See also==
* [Metaplasm](/source/Metaplasm)
* [Hiatus](/source/Hiatus_(linguistics))
* [Synalepha](/source/Synalepha)
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==References==
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Category:Phonology
Category:Figures of speech
Category:Poetic rhythm
Category:Homeric Greek

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Correption](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correption) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correption?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.