2022-03-04
ศัพท์ น่าสับสน - Set – E - epitaph & epigraph & epithet & epigram
แนะนำการใช้ ตามที่ส่วนใหญ่ใช้ แต่ละท้องถิ่น
ความหมาย อาจผันแปร ตาม ตำแหน่ง/หน้าที่ ในประโยค
Dictionary.com:
ออกเสียง epitaph = “EP-i-taf” or “-tahf”
ออกเสียง epigraph = “EP-i-graf” or “-grahf”
ออกเสียง epithet = “EP-uh-thet”
ออกเสียง epigram = “EP-i-gram”
Dictionary of Problem Words and Expressions:
epitaph & epigraph
Both of these terms refer to an inscription on a monument or tomb or a brief piece of writing in praise of someone now dead:
“The visitor paused in front of the shaft erected in memory of Queen Victoria and read the epitaph (or epigraph) carved on its face.”
Epigraph has the additional meaning of
a quotationat the beginning of a book or chapter of a book:
“The epigraph preceding this section is from the Book of Genesis.”
Common Errors in English Usage Dictionary:
epigram & epigraph & epitaph & epithet
An epigram is a pithy saying, usually humorous.
Mark Twain was responsible for many striking, mostly cynical epigrams, such as “Always do right. That will gratify some of the people, and astonish the rest.”
Unfortunately, he was also responsible for an even more famous one
that has been confusing people ever since:
“Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.”
It’s true that the moon keeps one side away from the earth,
but—if you don’t count the faint glow reflected from the earth
—it is not any darker than the side that faces us.
In fact, over time, the side facing us is darkened slightly more often because it is occasionally eclipsed by the shadow of the earth.
An epigraph is a brief quotation used to introduce a piece of writing
(see this example from Shakespeare)
or the inscription on a statue or building.
An epitaph is the inscription on a tombstone
or some other tribute to a dead person.
A collection of epitaphs.
In literature,
an epithet is a term that replaces or is added
to the name of a person, like “clear-eyed Athena,”
in which “clear-eyed” is the epithet.
You are more likely to encounter the term in its negative sense,
as a term of insult or abuse:
“the shoplifter hurled epithets at the guard who had arrested her.”
Abused, Confused, & Misused Words by Mary Embree:
epitaph
= inscription on a tomb
or mortuary monument; words in praise of the deceased
Not to be confused with:
epithet
= a word or phrase applied to a person
to describe a quality; nickname; sobriquet; designation;
= a curse or insult
Abused, Confused, & Misused Words by Mary Embree:
Epigraph
= an inscription on a building or statue;
= quotation at the beginning of a book or chapter
Not to be confused with:
epigram
= witticism, quip;
= ingenious saying tersely expressed
Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
Did you know?
An inscription on a tomb is an epitaph,
as is, by extension, anything written as if to be inscribed on a tomb.
Probably the earliest surviving epitaphs
are those written on ancient Egyptian sarcophagi and coffins.
In Elizabethan times,
epitaphs became much more common in English.
Many of the best known are literary memorials (often deliberately witty) not intended for a tomb.
Benjamin Franklin’s epitaph for himself
plays on his trade as a printer, hoping that he will
“appear once more in a new and more beautiful edition, corrected and amended by the Author.”
The 20th-century writer and wit Dorothy Parker’s suggested
epitaphs include “I told you I was sick”
and “If you can read this, you’re standing too close.”
Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
Epigraph refers to a short quotation from another source
placed at the beginning of an article, chapter, book, etc.,
that alludes to what's to come in your reading.
Its attribution is generally set by itself on the line below the quotation.
Alternatively (if print space is a concern),
it is run in on the last line of the quotation.
When set on its own line, it is generally preceded
by an em dash or, less frequently, it is enclosed in parentheses.
Here are a couple examples of famous epigraphs:
Lawyers, I suppose, were children once.
— Charles Lamb, "The Old Benchers of the Inner Temple" (in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird)
The word epigraph is derived from Greek epigraphein,
meaning "to write on" or "to inscribe,"
and was written into the English lexicon in the 17th century,
originally as a word for an inscription engraved
on buildings, tombs, statues, or other objects,
such as coins
(as in "In God We Trust," which is an epigraph on U.S. coins).
Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
Did you know?
Nowadays, epithet is usually used negatively,
with the meaning "a derogatory word or phrase,"
but it wasn't always that way.
Epithet comes to us via Latin from the Greek noun epitheton
and ultimately derives from epitithenai, meaning "to put on" or "to add."
In its oldest sense,
an epithet is simply a descriptive word or phrase,
especially one joined by fixed association
to the name of someone or something
(as in "Peter the Great" or the stock Homeric phrases "gray-eyed Athena" and "wine-dark sea").
Alternatively, epithets may be used in place of a name
(as in "the Peacemaker" or "the Eternal").
These neutral meanings of epithet are still in use,
but today the word is more often used
in its negative "term of disparagement" sense.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
Did you know?
Ancient Greeks and Romans
used the word epigramma (from Greek epigraphein,
meaning "to write on") to refer to a concise, witty, and often satirical verse.
The Roman poet Martial (who published eleven books of these epigrammata, or epigrams, between the years 86 and 98 C.E.)
was a master of the form:
"You puff the poets of other days,
/ the living you deplore.
/ Spare me the accolade: your praise
/ Is not worth dying for."
English speakers adopted the "verse" sense of the word
when we first used epigram for a concise poem
dealing pointedly and often satirically with a single thought
or event in the 15th century.
In the late 18th century,
we began using epigram for concise, witty sayings,
even if they didn't rhyme.
