English

Alternative forms

• dieresis, diaresis (US); diæresis (obsolete)

Noun

diaeresis ‎(plural diaereses)

1. (orthography) A diacritic ( ¨ ) placed over a vowel letter (especially the second of two consecutive ones) indicating that it is sounded separately, usually forming a distinct syllable, as in the English words naïve, Noël and Brontë, the French haïr and the Dutch ruïne.
2. (linguistics, prosody) The separation of a vowel, often a diphthong, into two distinct syllables.
3. (prosody) A natural break in rhythm when a word ends at the end of a metrical foot, in a line of verse.

Usage notes

• The umlaut is an often visually identical diacritic which alters the sound of a single vowel (as in German schön). Properly speaking, the terms diaeresis and umlaut are not interchangeable, though speakers frequently use the term umlaut to refer to a diaeresis.

Synonyms

• tréma, trema

Translations

See also

• umlaut

Latin

Etymology

From the Ancient Greek δῐαίρεσῐς ‎(diaíresis).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /diˈae̯.re.sis/, [dɪˈae̯.rɛ.sɪs]

Noun

diaeresis f ‎(genitive diaereseos or diaeresis); third declension

1. (grammar) diaeresis (division of a diphthong into two vowels in consecutive syllables)
   • (Can we find and add a quotation of Velius Longus to this entry?)
   • circa AD 384, Ser. Honoratus (aut.), G. Thilo & H. Hagen (eds.), In Vergilii Aeneidos commentarii in Servii Grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii II (1884), bk vii, l. 464 (p. 160, ll. 1–9):

     Fvrit intvs aqvai fvmidvs id est aquae amnis: nec inmerito; nam potest esse et alterius rei amnis, “ut fluvios videt ille cruoris”. Hanc autem diaeresin Tucca et Varius fecerunt: nam Vergilius sic reliquerat “furit intus aquae amnis” et “exuberat amnis”: quod satis asperum fuit. Notandum quod in toto Vergilio non reperiuntur nisi quattuor diaereses, hoc loco, et in tertio ⟨354⟩, ut “aulai medio libabant pocula Bacchi”, et in VI. ⟨747⟩ ut “aurai simplicis ignem”, et in IX. ⟨26⟩ “dives pictai vestis et auri”.

2. (rhetoric) distribution
   • (Can we find and add a quotation of Julius Valerius Alexander Polemius to this entry?)
   • (Can we find and add a quotation of Tyrannius Rufinus to this entry?)

Declension

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

• Latin type:

Third declension.

• Greek type:
  • Nominative singular: diaeresis
  • Genitive singular: diaereseos

Synonyms

• (rhetoric: distribution): distribūtiō (pure Latin)

Antonyms

• (grammar: diaeresis): synaeresis

References

• dĭaerĕsis in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “dĭærĕsis”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette, page 517/3.
• “diaeresis” on page 535/3 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)