Atticism

English

Alternative forms

• Atticisme (obsolete)

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Ἀττῐκῐσμός (Attikismós). By surface analysis, Attic +‎ -ism.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈatɪsɪzm/

Noun

Atticism (countable and uncountable, plural Atticisms)

1. (singular only) The prestige dialect of Classical Greek, as spoken and written by the inhabitants of Attica (chiefly Athens) in the fifth and fourth centuries B.C.E.; Attic Greek.
   1. (countable) An expression or idiom characteristic of or peculiar to Attic Greek, especially an elegant and refined, if grammatically irregular, usage.
      • 1611, Thomas James, A Treatiſe of the Corruption of Scripture, Councels, and Fathers, § II.19, page 68:

        By the Cardinals own confeſsion, this Agapetus liued at Conſtantinople in Iuſtinians time: where it was a great matter for him, no doubt, in ſo long time, to learn to make ſuch a Greek booke as this is; which yet for the ſtile and Atticiſmes, comes a great deale ſhort of Baronius commendation.

      • 1813 May 9th (Sunday), authorship uncertain, but probably Leigh Hunt or Thomas Barnes, “Theatrical Examiner, No. 137.”, in The Examiner, number 280, page 298/1:

        Her mistakes, if [Catalani] makes any, are perceptible only to the musical pedant who thinks a deviation from a scientific canon ill compensated by the most fanciful beauties of execution. Such a man would accuse Thucydides of false grammar on account of his atticisms, or Homer of incorrect quantity for the occasional artful protraction of a short syllable.

   2. (countable, by extension) A refined felicity or well-turned phrase, especially one deemed ungrammatical. (In Newcome, aposiopesis, dislocation, and inverse attraction, respectively.)
      • 1642 April, John Milton, An Apology Againſt a Pamphlet Call’d A Modeſt Confutation of the Animadverſions upon the Remonſtrant againſt Smectymnuus., page 14:

        There while they acted, and overacted, among other young ſcholars, I was a ſpectator; they thought themſelves gallant men, and I thought them fools, they made ſport, and I laught, they miſpronounc’t and I miſlik’t, and to make up the atticiſme, they were out, and I hiſt.

      • 1792, William Newcome, An Hiſtorical View of the Engliſh Biblical Tranſlations, chapter V, Rule II., page 279:

        There is an elegant Atticiſm which occurs Luke xiii. 9. “If it bear fruit, well.” We find this figure of ſpeech in the Chaldee, Dan. iii. 15; and, I think, in the Hebrew, Exod. xxxii. 32: “Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their ſin, well.”

      • 〃, Rule XII., page 335:

        As for Ephraim, their glory ſhall flee away as a bird: which…form reſembles Salluſt’s plebs urbana ea vero præceps ierat [Bellum Catilinae 37.4]; and that common Atticiſm, urbem quam ſtatuo, veſtra eſt [Virgil, Aeneid 1.573].

2. (ancient history, uncountable) Attachment to, collaboration with, favouring of, or siding with Athens and/or Athenians, especially in the context of the Peloponnesian War (431–404 B.C.E.).
   • 1628, Thucydides, translated by Thomas Hobbes, Eight Bookes Of the Peloponnesian Warre, reprint edition, published 1634, § 4.133.1, page 286:

     The ſame Summer, the Thebans demoliſhed the walles of the Theſpians, laying Atticiſme to their charge.

   • 〃, § 8:38:3, page 489:

     Tydeus and his Complices, had bin put to death by Pædaritus for Atticiſme.

   • 1837, Connop Thirlwall, A History of Greece, § IV.xxxi}.7, page 188:

     Lysias and his brother were compelled to quit Thurii on the charge of Atticism (of taking the Athenian side in political questions) and they returned to Athens, which was then under the government of the Four Hundred.

3. (historical) A rhetorical movement that began in the 1st century BC, which strove to emulate classical Attic style and usage in reaction against the perceived vulgarities of the Koine
4. (historical) The wordings and phrasings typical of this movement, especially as contrasted with the Koine

Related terms

• Atticist
• Atticistic

See also

• barbarism
• laconism
• solecism

Translations

prestige dialect of Classical Greek — see Attic Greek

expression or idiom characteristic of Attic Greek

refined felicity or well-turned phrase, esp. ungrammatical

attachment to or siding with the Athenians

rhetorical movement

• Finnish: attikismi

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Armenian: ^{(please verify)} ատտիկիզմ (attikizm)
• Catalan: ^{(please verify)} aticisme m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 阿提卡主義／阿提卡主义 (Ātíkǎzhǔyì)

• Galician: ^{(please verify)} aticismo m
• German: ^{(please verify)} Attizismus m
• Hungarian: ^{(please verify)} atticizmus (hu)
• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} Attikisme
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 아티키주의 (atikijuui)
• Polish: ^{(please verify)} attycyzm m
• Portuguese: ^{(please verify)} aticismo m
• Russian: ^{(please verify)} аттики́зм (attikízm)
• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} атицизам (aticizam)
• Slovak: ^{(please verify)} aticizmus
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} atticism c
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} Attisizm
• Ukrainian: ^{(please verify)} аттикізм (attykizm)

Further reading

• Atticism on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Atticism”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume I (A–B), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 552, column 1.

Anagrams

• Tacitism, mastitic