Archilochian

[ ahr-kuh-loh-kee-uhn ]

adjective

, Prosody.

1. of or relating to a form of poetic meter devised by the Greek Archilochus in which various types of meter are combined in the same line or couplet, as a dactylic tetrameter plus a trochaic tripody.

Archilochian

/ ˌɑːkɪˈləʊkɪən /

adjective

1. denoting or relating to the 7th century bc Greek poet Archilochus or his verse, esp the iambic trimeters or trochaic tetrameters used by him

Word History and Origins

Origin of Archilochian¹

1745–55; < Greek archilóchei ( os ) (equivalent to Archíloch ( os ) Archilochus + -eios adj. suffix) + -an

Example Sentences

The result is that those Archilochian edicts of Bibulus against him are so popular, that one can't get past the place where they are put up for the crowd of readers, and so deeply annoying to himself that he is pining with vexation.

From Project Gutenberg

Cicero calls his edicts "Archilochian," that is, as full of spite as the verses of Archilochus.—Ad.

From Project Gutenberg

Cicero calls his edicts "Archilochian," that is, as full of spite as the verses of Archilochus.—Ad.

From Project Gutenberg

I have also ventured to invent a metre for that technically known as the Fourth Archilochian, the "Solvitur acris hiems," by combining the fourteen-syllable with the ten-syllable iambic in an alternately rhyming stanza.

From Project Gutenberg

The First Archilochian, "Diffugere nives," I have represented by a combination of the ten-syllable with the four- syllable iambic.

From Project Gutenberg