| LC control no. | sh2012002802 |
|---|---|
| Topical heading | Abecedariuses |
| Variant(s) | Abecedarian acrostics Abecedarian poems Abecedarian poetry Abecedarii |
| See also | Acrostics Poetry |
| Found in | Work cat.: Chaucer, G. Geoffrey Chaucer's A.B.C., called La priè€re de Nostre Dame, 1967. Wheeler, L.K. Literary terms and definitions, via WWW, July 12, 2012 (Acrostic: A poem in which the first or last letters of each line vertically form a word, phrase, or sentence. Apart from puzzles in newspapers and magazines, the most common modern versions involve the first letters of each line forming a single word when read downwards. An acrostic that involves the sequential letters of the alphabet is said to be an abecedarius or an abecedarian poem. Abecedarian acrostics were also a common genre in classical Hebrew poetry. For instance, Psalm 118 in the Douay-Rheims numbering of the Bible (or number 119 in the King James numbering of the Bible) is an abecedarian acrostic, with each stanza headed by one of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, such as Aleph, Beth, Gimel, and so on. Similar acrostics appear in Lamentations 3.) Wikipedia, July 12, 2012 (An abecedarius is an acrostic in which the first letter of every word, strophe or verse follows the order of the alphabet. Abecedarius is also a generic term for an alphabet book, which dates back to Biblical writings such as the Psalms, which used successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet as the first letter of each stanza.) Merriam-Webster online, July 12, 2012 (abecedarius -es: a poem in which the lines or stanzas begin with the letters of the alphabet in regular order (as the 119th Psalm in Hebrew or Chaucer's A B C)) Dictionary.com, July 12, 2012 (abecedarius - a poem having lines beginning with letters of the alphabet in regular order) Wiktionary, July 12, 2012 (abecedarius (plural abecedariuses) An acrostic poem in which the lines begin with the letters of the alphabet in sequence) Britannica online, July 12, 2012 (abecedarius, a type of acrostic in which the first letter of each line of a poem or the first letter of the first word of each stanza taken in order forms the alphabet. Examples of these are some of the Psalms (in Hebrew), such as Psalms 25 and 34, where successive verses begin with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet in order. The word is from the late Latin for "alphabetical" and is derived from the names of the letters a, b, c, and d.) Grammarist website, July 12, 2012 (Abecedarius. An abecedarius is a poem in which each line or stanza begins with a successive letter of the alphabet. Though in modern societies abecedarii are usually thought of as childish, there is a long history of quite serious abecedarian poetry, including several biblical Psalms (in Hebrew). There are also examples in Classical and Hellenistic Greek, Medieval Latin (St. Augustine), Byzantine Greek, and Middle English (Chaucer). ... One famous example of an abecedarius is Chaucer's "An ABC," which is made of 26 eight-line stanzas, each beginning with a successive letter of the English alphabet.) |
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