• polysyndeton •
Pronunciation: pah-lee-sin-dê-tahn • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun, mass
Meaning: (Rhetoric) The repetition of conjunctions in close proximity, as in 'here and there and everywhere'.
Notes: Ordinarily, when we speak or write sentences with multiple items for the same function, we only place a conjunction between the penultimate and ultimate: 'here, there, and everywhere'. If we resort to polysyndeton, we add superfluous conjunctions. The contrary of polysyndeton is asyndeton "no conjunction", as in, "Here, there, everywhere the adjective is polysyndetic."
In Play: In college you might have received this comment on a paper: "You overuse polysyndeton," if your instructor even knew the word and thought you might. (If anyone thought you might, it was a compliment.) Its usefulness is constrained to emphasizing each of the linked words: "Rhoda Book used polysyndeton throughout her novels to emphasize each of the conjoined items."
Word History: Today's Good Word was captured from Late Latin, which borrowed it from Byzantine Greek polysyndeton, the neuter of adjective polysyndetos "using many conjunctions" used as a noun. Polysyndetos comprises poly(s) "many" + syndetos "tied together, bound", the past participle of syndein "to tie together", itself made up of syn- "together (with) + dein "to tie, bind". Greek syn was passed down from PIE sun "(together) with", seen also in Russian s(o) "(together) with", Polish z(e) "(together) with", and Serbian s(a) "(together) with". Greek created dein from PIE de- to tie, bind", which also went into the making of Sanskrit dyati "ties, binds", Greek diadema "headband", borrowed by Latin, which ended up in French, as diadème (whence the English borrowing), and Albanian demet "sheaf". (Now let's acknowledge and congratulate and thank Lew Jury for bringing today's rhetorical Good Word to our attention.)
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