apophasis

English

Etymology

Via Late Latin apophasis from Ancient Greek ἀπόφασις (apóphasis, “denial, negation”) from ἀπο- (apo-, “away, from, off”) +‎ φάσις (phásis, “statement, proposition”) from φημί (phēmí, “to speak”) from Proto-Hellenic *pʰā́mā from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂; whence Latin fārī, cognate to fame, fable.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /əˈpɒf.ə.sɪs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /əˈpɑf.ə.sɪs/

Noun

Examples
"I won't mention your bad grammar" Paul Anka, "My Way" (1969): Regrets, I've had a few / But then again, too few to mention

apophasis (countable and uncountable, plural apophases)

1. (rhetoric) An allusion to something by denying that it will be mentioned.

   Synonyms: paralipsis, parasiopesis, praeteritio, preterition

   Hypernym: irony

   Hyponyms: proslepsis, assumptio

   Coordinate terms: antiphrasis, concessio, epitrope, mycterism, sarcasm

   • [1835, L[arret] Langley, A Manual of the Figures of Rhetoric, […], Doncaster: Printed by C. White, Baxter-Gate, →OCLC, page 63:

     Apophasis, affecting to conceal;
     What it would seem to hide, will yet reveal.]

2. (Christianity, philosophy, theology) A process of arriving at knowledge by statements of denial; particularly, developing a concept of God through negative assertions about his nature.

   Synonyms: apophatic theology, via negativa

   Antonyms: cataphasis, via affirmativa

Related terms

• apo-
• -phasis
• apophatic
• apophatically

Translations

allusion to something by denying that it will be mentioned — see also paralipsis

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 陽否陰述／阳否阴述 (yángfǒuyīnshù)

• Finnish: apofaasi, paralipsis
• Galician: apófase f
• German: Paralipse (de) f, Praeteritio f
• Interlingua: reticentia
• Portuguese: apófase f
• Russian: апофа́зия (ru) f (apofázija)
• Spanish: paralipsis (es) f, preterición (es) f
• Tagalog: pakunwari

See also

• not to mention
• to say nothing of

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀπόφασις (apóphasis, “denial, negation”), ἀπο- (apo-, “away, from, off”) +‎ φάσις (phásis, “statement, proposition”) from ἀπόφημι (apóphēmi, “speak out; say no, refuse, deny”) from Attic Greek φημί (phēmí), Doric Greek φᾱμί (phāmí) from Proto-Hellenic *pʰā́mā from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂; whence via Proto-Italic *fāōr, *fāmā compare fārī, fābula, fāma, hence English fable, fame.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /aˈpo.pʰa.sis/, [äˈpɔpʰäs̠ɪs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /aˈpo.fa.sis/, [äˈpɔːfäs̬is]

Noun

apophasis f (genitive apophasis); third declension

1. denial, negation, repudiation
2. (Late Latin, logic, rhetoric) apophasis; ironically alluding to a subject matter by denying that the subject will be mentioned, embedded within a statement or rhetorical question whereby one, as it were, answers himself
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin, Christianity, philosophy, theology) apprehending knowledge of what is true about an unknowable, such as the essence of a divine being like God, by a negative process of denying propositions that are knowably untrue

   Synonyms: abnuentia, negatio, (New Latin) via negativa

   Antonyms: affirmatio, aientia, cataphasis, (New Latin) via affirmativa

Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	apophasis	apophasēs
Genitive	apophasis	apophasium
Dative	apophasī	apophasibus
Accusative	apophasem	apophasēs apophasīs
Ablative	apophase	apophasibus
Vocative	apophasis	apophasēs

Descendants

• English: apophasis
• French: apophase
• Galician: apófase
• → Finnish: apofaasi
• Portuguese: apófase
• → Russian: Апофазия (Apofazija)

Noun

apophasīs f

1. accusative plural of apophasis

References

• “apophasis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “apophasis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• apophasis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 142.
• apophasis in Georges, Karl Ernst, Georges, Heinrich (1913–1918) Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th edition, volume 1, Hahnsche Buchhandlung, column 499