Catholic encyclopedia

ACROSTIC

Acrostic: translation

Acrostic
•A poem the initial or final letters of whose verses form certain words or sentences

Catholic Encyclopedia.Kevin Knight.2006.

Acrostic
Acrostic
†Catholic_Encyclopedia►Acrostic
(Akros stichos, "at the end of a verse".)
A poem the initial or final letters (syllables or words) of whose verses form certain words or sentences.Its invention is attributed to Epicharmus. The most remarkable example of such a poem is attributed by Lactantius and Eusebius to the Erythræan sibyl, the initial letters forming the wordsIesous Christos Theou houios soter (stauros), "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour (cross)". Omitting the doubtful parenthesis, these words form a minor acrostic:Ichthys, fish, the mystical symbol of our Lord. The acrostic is supposed to have been quite popular among the early Christians. In a wider sense the nameacrosticis applied to alphabetical or "abecedarian" poems. In this kind of poetry the successive verses or stanzas begin with the successive letters of the alphabet. We see this exemplified is Pss. cxi, cxii, cxix (Vulg. cx, cxi, cxviii); Prov., xxxi, 10-31; Lam., i, ii, iii, iv; and in a less regular manner, in Pss. x, xxv, xxxv, cxlv (Vulg. ix, xxiv, xxxiv, xxxvi, cxliv); Ecclus., li, 18-38. (See HEBREW POETRY, PARALLELISM, PSALMS).
LECLERCQ inDict. d'achéol. chrét. et de lit.(Paris, 1903); VIGOUROUX inDict. de la bible, s.v.Alphabétique (Poème)(Paris, 1895).
A.J. MAAS
Transcribed by Thomas J. Bress

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VIII. — New York: Robert Appleton Company.Nihil Obstat.1910.


  1. acrostic—Acrostic translationPoems in which the first or last letters of successive lines formed a word or phrase were popular in this period. The hiddenness of the acrostic gave ...Dictionary of Medieval Terms and Phrases
  2. acrostic—acrostic translationSynonyms and related wordsabuse of terms acronym amphibologism amphiboly anagram avyayibhava back formation calembour clipped word compound conjugate ...Moby Thesaurus
  3. acrostic—socratic...Английские анаграммы
  4. acrostic—[krstk]акростихимеющий форму акростиха...Англо-русский большой универсальный переводческий словарь
  5. acrostic—n акростих...Англо-русский словарь Лингвистика-98
  6. acrostic—acrostic [krstk] . nu акростих . au имеющий форму акростиха...Англо-русский словарь Мюллера
  7. acrostic—. сущ. акростих . прил. имеющий форму акростиха...Англо-русский словарь общей лексики
  8. acrostic—adj. имеющий форму акростиха...Англо-русский словарь редакция bed
  9. acrostic—n. акростих...Англо-русский словарь редакция bed
  10. acrostic—.strong n adjщо ма форму акростиха...Англо-украинский словарь
  11. acrostic—акроврш...Англо-український словник
  12. acrostic—n врш акростих....Англо-український словник Балла М.І.
  13. acrostic—[krstk] n стих....Новый большой англо-русский словарь
  14. acrostic—acrostic [krstk] n стих.i акростих...Новый большой англо-русский словарь II
  15. acrostic—krstk n стих. акростих...Новый большой англо-русский словарь под общим руководством акад. Ю.Д. Апресяна