Tmesis

{{short description|Compound or phrase with an interpolated word in the middle}}

In its strictest sense, tmesis ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|t|m|iː|s|ɪ|s|,_|t|ə|ˈ|m|iː|-}}; plural tmeses {{IPAc-en|ˈ|t|m|iː|s|iː|s|,_|t|ə|ˈ|m|iː|-}}; Ancient Greek: {{lang|grc|τμῆσις}} tmēsis {{endash}} "a cutting" < {{lang|grc|τέμνω}} temnō, "I cut") is the dividing of a word into two parts, with another word inserted between those parts, thus forming a compound word. Example: "un-freaking-believable" (an emphatic way to say "unbelievable"). In a broader sense, tmesis is a set phrase, such as a phrasal verb, with one or more words interpolated within, thus creating a separate phrase.{{cite encyclopedia |title=tmesis |encyclopedia=Oxford English Dictionary |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/tmesis |access-date=19 August 2014 |date= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121223071123/http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/tmesis |archive-date=23 December 2012 |via=oxforddictionaries.com |url-status=dead}}{{cite book| title= The Oxford Companion to the English Language| publisher= Oxford University Press | year= 1992| page= 1044 |isbn= 0-19-214183-X}}{{cite web| website= Dictionary.com| url= http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/tmesis |title= tmesis| publisher= | date= | access-date= 19 August 2014}}

Verbs

Tmesis of prefixed verbs (whereby the prefix is separated from the simple verb) was thought to be an original feature of the Ancient Greek language, common in Homer (and later poetry), but not used in Attic prose.{{cn|date=October 2023}} Such separable verbs are also part of the normal grammatical usage of some modern languages, such as Dutch and German.

=Ancient Greek=

Tmesis in Ancient Greek is something of a misnomer, since there is not necessarily a splitting of the prefix from the verb; rather the consensus now seems to be that the separate prefix or pre-verb reflects a stage in the language where the prefix had not yet joined onto the verb. There are many examples in Homer's epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, both of which preserve archaic features. One common and oft-cited example is {{lang|grc|κατὰ δάκρυα λείβων}} (kata dakrua leibōn; "shedding tears"), in which the pre-verb/prefix {{lang|grc|κατά-}} kata- "down" has not yet joined the verbal participle {{lang|grc|λείβων}} leibōn "shedding". In later Greek, these would combine to form the compound verb {{lang|grc|καταλείβων}} kataleibōn "shedding (in a downwards direction)".

=Latin=

Tmesis is found as a poetic or rhetorical device in classical Latin poetry, such as Ovid's Metamorphoses{{Citation needed|date=October 2024}}. Words such as circumdare ("to surround") are split apart with other words of the sentence in between, e.g. circum virum dant: "they surround the man" (circumdant (circum- prefix + dant)). This device is used in this way to create a visual image of surrounding the man by means of the words on the line. In the work of the poet Ennius, the literal splitting of the word cerebrum creates a vivid image: saxo cere comminuit brum "he shattered his brain with a rock."{{cite book |last=Cruttwell |first=Charles Thomas |author-link=Charles Thomas Cruttwell |title=A History of Roman Literature: From the Earliest Period to the Death of Marcus Aurelius |url=http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/bl/bl_histromlit_1_6.htm |access-date=2013-12-20 |archive-date=2017-01-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170105084213/http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/bl/bl_histromlit_1_6.htm |url-status=dead }}

=Old Irish=

Tmesis can be found in some early Old Irish texts, such as Audacht Morainn (The Testament of Morann). Old Irish verbs are found at the beginning of clauses (in a VSO word order) and often possess prepositional pre-verbal particles, e.g. ad-midethar (ad- prefix) "evaluates, estimates". Tmesis occurs when the pre-verbal particle is separated from the verbal stem and the verbal stem is placed in clause final position while the pre-verbal particle/prefix remains at the beginning of the clause. This results in an abnormal word order, e.g. ad- cruth caín -cichither "[the] fair form will be seen" (where ad-chichither is the future third-person singular passive of ad-cí "sees").{{cite book |last=Russell |first=Paul |title=An Introduction to the Celtic Languages |publisher=Routledge |year=2014 |location=London |pages=288 }}

=Old Norse=

Examples of tmesis have been found in skaldic poetry. In addition to the use of kennings, skalds used tmesis to obscure the meaning of the poem.{{cite book |last=Ross |first=Margaret Clunies |title=A History of Old Norse Poetry and Poetics |publisher=D. S. Brewer |year=2005 |location=Cambridge |pages=109–110 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WvROUzj4DBoC |isbn=1-84384-034-0}} One use of tmesis was to divide the elements of personal names.

=English=

Colloquial examples include un-bloody-believable, abso-bloody-lutely,{{cite web| website= yourdictionary.com| url= https://www.yourdictionary.com/absobloodylutely |title= absobloodylutely | publisher= | date= | access-date= 2 May 2024}} and several variants. Numerous English words are joined with the vulgar element -fucking-, such as unfuckingbelievable {{cite web| website= Dictionary.com| url= https://www.dictionary.com/browse/unfuckingbelievable |title= unfuckingbelievable| publisher= | date= | access-date= 2 May 2024}} or fanfuckingtastic;{{cite web| website= Dictionary.com| url= https://www.dictionary.com/browse/fanfuckingtastic |title= fanfuckingtastic | publisher= | date= | access-date= 2 May 2024}} the tmesis often does not occur between a prefix and the root, but inside the root itself, as seen above in absobloodylutely and fanfuckingtastic.

==Phrasal verbs==

English employs a large number of phrasal verbs, consisting of a core verb and a particle; placing a word between them is sometimes called tmesis.{{citation needed|date=December 2013}} For example:

:Turn off the light OR Turn the light off.

:Hand in the application OR Hand the application in.

When the object of the verb is 'it', tmesis is the norm, with turn it off and hand it in being nearly obligatory; *hand in it is only possible with contrastive intonation.

Such tmesis can also occur with an intransitive phrasal verb, typically with an adjunct. For example:

:Come back tomorrow OR Come on back tomorrow.

:Let's head out OR Let's head right out.