Dochmiac

Greek and Latin metre

Dochmiac (Ancient Greek: δοχμιακός, from δόχμιος 'across, aslant, oblique',[1] or 'pertaining to a δοχμή or hand's-breath'[2]) is a poetic meter that is characteristically used in Greek tragedy, expressing extreme agitation or distress. They appear in every extant tragedy—N.C. Conomis counted a total of 1,985 in the tragedies of Aeschylus (528×), Sophocles (291×), and Euripides (1166×)[3]—, but there are also examples in satyric drama and Aristophanes, where they are often paratragic in tone and impassioned.[4]

  1. ^ Liddell & Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=do%2Fxmios&la=greek#lexicon
  2. ^ Oxford English Dictionary.
  3. ^ Conomis, N.C. (1964). "The Dochmiacs of Greek Drama". Hermes. 92 (1): 23–50. JSTOR 4475286. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
  4. ^ West, Martin (1982). Greek Metre. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 108–115: 108–109.