Hyperbaton is a figure of speech where a phrase is disrupted by inserting other words between its parts. In modern times, the term is also used to describe changing the usual word order in a sentence. This is also called anastrophe.

Etymology

The word comes from the Greek term hyperbaton (ὑπέρβατον), which means "stepping over." This is made up of "hyper" (meaning "over") and "bainein" (meaning "to step"), along with a suffix used in verbs. The term suggests that to understand the phrase, the reader must "step over" the words placed in between.

Classical usage

Hyperbaton is a way of separating words in a sentence to create emphasis or a special effect. It is more common in languages where word order does not strongly determine the meaning, such as Latin and Ancient Greek. In these languages, hyperbaton often highlights the first word in a group. This feature is considered one of the most unique aspects of Latin word order. A writer named Donatus described five types of hyperbaton in his work On Tropes: hysterologia, anastrophe (sometimes used as a synonym for hyperbaton), parenthesis, tmesis, and synchysis.

For example, in a sentence by Demosthenes: huph' henòs toiaûta péponthen hē Hellàs anthrṓpou ("At the hands of only one person, Greece has suffered this"), the word henos ("only one") is in its normal place, but anthrōpou ("person") is moved to emphasize henos.

Another example from Euripides: prós se gonátōn ("by your knees") separates the word se ("you") from the preposition prós ("by") and its object gonátōn ("knees").

In Plato’s Republic, the sentence tína ékhei dúnamin? ("Who has power?") uses hyperbaton to highlight the question.

Hyperbaton is also common in New Testament Greek. For instance:
– hoûtos ho ánthrōpos pollà poieî sēmeîa ("This man is performing many signs") emphasizes pollà ("many").
– dià tò engùs eînai Ierousalḕm autón ("because of him being near Jerusalem") highlights engùs ("near").
– ídete pēlíkois humîn grámmasin égrapsa têi emêi kheirí ("See, I have written to you with big letters in my own hand") emphasizes pēlíkois ("big").
– talaípōros egṑ ánthrōpos ("I am a wretched man") emphasizes talaípōros ("wretched").

In these examples, the first word of the hyperbaton is often an adjective or adverb that is separated from the noun it describes. The separating word can be a verb, noun, or pronoun.

In Latin, hyperbaton appears in both prose and poetry. For example:
– meo tu epistulam dedisti servo? (Plautus) separates meo ("my") to emphasize it.
– duas a te accepi epistulas heri (Cicero) separates duas ("two") to highlight it.
– hae permanserunt aquae dies complures (Caesar) separates hae ("these") for emphasis.
– ille sic dies (Cicero) separates ille ("that") to stress it.

In some cases, the emphasis is on a word in the middle of the sentence, such as in sum enim ipse mensus (Cicero), where ipse ("myself") is highlighted.

Adjectives describing size can also be moved to the front for emphasis, as in pro ingenti itaque victoria id fuit plebi (Livy) and magnam enim secum pecuniam portabat (Nepos).

Adverbs can also be separated, as in aeque vita iucunda (Cicero), where aeque ("equally") is emphasized.

In some cases, the noun comes first, as in dies appetebat septimus (Caesar) and Antonius legiones eduxit duas (Cicero).

Hyperbaton can also be used to describe a scene, such as hac in utramque partem disputatione habita (Caesar), or to show a genitive case, as in contionem advocat militum (Caesar).

Some sentences use multiple hyperbata, such as cum ipse litteram Socrates nullam reliquisset (Cicero) and unam esse in celeritate positam salutem (Cicero).

In Slavic languages like Polish, hyperbaton is also used. For example, Piękny Markowi kupili obraz ("They bought a beautiful painting for Mark") separates Piękny ("beautiful") to emphasize it. This is possible when the noun phrase contains only one modifier.

English usage

In English studies, the term "hyperbaton" refers to a figure of speech where the usual order of words is changed. For example, "cheese I love" instead of "I love cheese" (Collins English Dictionary) or "echoed the hills" instead of "the hills echoed" (Merriam-Webster online dictionary). Examples include:

• "Bloody thou art; bloody will be thy end" — William Shakespeare in Richard III, 4.4, 198.
• "Object there was none. Passion there was none." — Edgar Allan Poe in The Tell-Tale Heart.
• "The helmsman steered, the ship moved on; / Yet never a breeze up blew" — Samuel Taylor Coleridge in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
• "For while the tired waves, vainly breaking, / Seem here no painful inch to gain" — Arthur Hugh Clough in Say Not the Struggle Naught Availeth.
• "Arms and the man I sing" — Opening words of Virgil's Aeneid, translated by E. F. Taylor (1907).
• "Backward ran sentences until reeled the mind." — Wolcott Gibbs's 1936 parody of Time magazine.
• "Alone with Christ, desolate else, left by mankind." — Lionel Johnson in The Church of a Dream (1890).