This mysterious epithet. Examples

Among all the wealth of the Russian language, expressive means take a special place, such as the antithesis, metaphor, metonymy, litot, hyperbole, synecdoche, and, of course, the epithet. Examples of epithets in our lives we see at every step, unconsciously use in speech, but do not realize how We have a unique means of expression. In the article we'll talk in more detail about what an epithet is. Examples will help to understand better and more clearly than the epithet differs from other expressive means of the great and mighty Russian language. For example, what is its difference from the metaphor and is it.

So, what is an epithet? Examples of epithets are the following: velvet nights, golden hands, brilliant role, brilliant performance, white light, honored artist, gray wolf.

Examples of epithets can be given a lot, even to the word "light" you can pick up up to 10 epithets. That is, the epithet is a path, an expressive means of language. In a broader sense, the epithet is a word or even a phrase that in the sentence acquires a new meaning and identifies certain features in the described object. Thus, the reader evaluates the described object from an unusual point of view. Epithet, along with metaphor, metonymy and other expressive means, gives the subject, like the text, a certain expressive coloring.

There is no common opinion on the grammatical form of epithets. Some scientists, for example, Kvyatkovsky, believe that the epithet in the sentence can only be an adjective definition. Others are inclined to think that any part of speech can act as an epithet, if it serves as the defining word for another word. This is the so-called broad approach to understanding the lexico-semantic meaning of the epithet. If we consider the epithet from the standpoint of this approach, even an adverb can play its role if it carries a tinge of the author's perception of the phenomenon. For example: madly rejoice, furiously whistle, desperately try, frantically defend.

Also an epithet can be an application, for example: a beautiful girl, a fool-ignoramus, a cow-nurse, Ivan the fool and others.

Despite the existence of a broad approach, most linguists consider the epithet to be the defining word in attributive constructions constructed from the A + N model, the adjective (A, adjective) + the noun (N, noun).

Epithets are most often used in poetry. Epithets were used by Homer - in his "Illiade" contains such epithets as the clever Odysseus, the fleet-footed Achilles. Such a reception is called a permanent epithet, or a fixed definition.

The well-known linguist Zhirmunsky points out that in a broad sense, the epithet is, in fact, any definition that emphasizes and emphasizes any feature of the subject. In a narrow sense, the epithet is the adornment characteristic of classicism.

From the history of the epithet it is clear that at first they were permanent with certain words, for example, a dark sea, a starry night, a crowned ruler.

On the basis of structural characteristics, a simple, cohesive, compound, complex epithet can be distinguished. Examples of complex epithets are often found in the poetry of Akhmatova.