Social:Merism

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Merism (Latin: merismus, Ancient Greek: μερισμός, romanized: merismós) also known as merismus is a rhetorical device (or figure of speech) in which a combination of two contrasting parts of the whole refer to the whole.[1]: 10 [2][3] For example, in order to say that someone "searched everywhere," one could use the merism "searched high and low."

Etymology

The term entered English in 1894 in the biological sense but had appeared earlier in rhetorical contexts in which it denoted "'synecdoche in which totality is expressed by contrasting parts' (such as high and low, young and old)." It derives from Modern Latin merismus, from Greek μερισμός (merismos) 'a dividing or partitioning,' ultimately from merizein 'to divide', from meros 'part, share'.[4][5]

Definitions

Most broadly, some, such as Richard Lanham, define a merism as a distribution in which one thing is split into more; this is device is instead sometimes referred to as a distribution, distributio, or the distributor.[6][7] An example of this definition is found in Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene:[7]

Two things he feared, but the third was death;
That fierce young mans unruly maistery;
His money, which he lov'd as living breath;
And his faire wife, whom honest long he kept uneath.

Specifying this definition, others, such as George Puttenham, define it as distributing every part of something, especially for the sake of amplification.[8][9]: 28  Puttenham provides the example of describing each part of a house— the walls, the roof, the floor— being torn down instead of just stating that the house was extirpated; he goes on to quote the following Petrarchan sonnet by Henry Howard (though Puttenham attributes it to Thomas Wyatt):[8]

Set me whereas the sunne doth parch the greene,
Or where his beames do not dissolue the yce:
In temperate heate where he is felt and seene,
In presence prest of people mad or wise:
Set me in hye or yet in low degree,
In longest night or in the shortest day:
In clearest skie, or where clouds thickest bee,
In lustie youth or when my heares are gray:
Set me in heauen, in earth or els in hell,
In hill or dale or in the foaming flood:
Thrall or at large, alive where so I dwell,
Sicke or in health, in evill fame or good:
Hers will I be, and onely with this thought,
Content my selfe, although my chaunce be naught.

Which Puttenham argues could have been said in two verses:[8]

Set me wherefoever ye will
I am and wilbe yours still.

A merism can also be defined as an inclusive spectrum defined by some of its parts. For example, to search "high and low" is to search medium elevations as well as the extremes.[10] Some definitions specifies that a merism must contain only two contrasting elements; a merism with this definition is sometimes referred to as a universalizing doublet.[11] One should establish, however, that a merism must contain at least two elements, as it is distinct from a synecdoche (or specifically a pars pro toto) which uses a singular term to refer to the whole.[12]

Examples

In common phrases

  • "ladies and gentlemen" refers to all people[9]: 28 
  • "night and day" refers to always[9]: 30 
  • "sun, sea, and sand" refers to a tropical or beachy experience[13] (as this contains three elements, it is debatable whether it is meristic)
  • "alpha and omega" refers to totality, not just the beginning and the end[10]
  • "Flesh and bone" or "heart and soul" refer to one's whole person or existence[12]
  • "For better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part" is a common statement in a marriage vow that means "in all circumstances," not just sometimes

In literature

  • "Cannon to the right of them, Cannon to the left of them, Cannon in front of them" — Tennyson, The Charge of the Light Brigade[9]: 31 
  • "There is a working class—strong and happy—among both rich and poor; there is an idle class—weak, wicked, and miserable—among both rich and poor" — John Ruskin, The Crown of Wild Olive
  • "Young lions and pumas are marked with feeble stripes or rows of spots, and as many allied species both young and old are similarly marked, no believer in evolution will doubt that the progenitor of the lion and puma was a striped animal" — Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex[11]

In the Bible

Merisms are especially common in the bible, particularly the Old Testament:[1]: 10 

  • "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" — Genesis 1:1 (refers to the entire universe)[1]: 10 
  • "God called the light 'day,' and the darkness he called 'night.' And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day" — Genesis 1:5[1]: 10 
  • "But you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die" — Genesis 2:17[12]
  • "The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore" — Psalm 121:8
  • "Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off" — Psalm 139:2 (refers to the all of the psalmist's actions)
  • "The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good" — Proverbs 15:3

In some cases, whether a statement is meristic can be debated. For example, Genesis 1:27— "so God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them—" the text may refer to strictly "male" and "female" or refer to a broader spectrum inclusive of intersex individuals.[10]

Biological usage

Main article: Biology:Meristics

In biology, a merism is a repetition of similar parts in the structure of an organism.[14] Such features are called meristic characters, and the study of such characters is called meristics. An example is in flowers in considering the number of parts in each whorl of organs from which they are constructed.[15]: 30–31 

See also: Legal doublet


I bequeath, convey, and devise the rest, residue, and remainder of my property, whether real or personal, and wheresoever it may be situated, to...


In some cases, the doubling (or even tripling) of constituent parts in the meristic constructions arose as a result of the transition of legal discourse from Latin to French and then from French to English. During such periods, key terms were paired with synonyms from multiple languages in an attempt to prevent ambiguity and ensure hermeneutic consistency.[16]: 164–65 

See also

  • Dvandva
  • Blazon
  • Synecdoche, referring to a whole by the name of one of its parts (or vice versa):

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Zuckermann, Ghil'ad (2020). Revivalistics: From the Genesis of Israeli to Language Reclamation in Australia and Beyond. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199812790.  ISBN 9780199812776
  2. ↑ Bruce K Waltke (2007). A commentary on Micah. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. pp. 456–. ISBN 978-0-8028-4933-5. https://books.google.com/books?id=k6JM1WpP2NoC&pg=PA456. Retrieved 19 May 2013. 
  3. ↑ Adele Berlin; Marc Zvi Brettler; Michael A. Fishbane; Jewish Publication Society (2004). The Jewish Study Bible. Oxford University Press. p. 2134. ISBN 978-0-19-529751-5. https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195297515. Retrieved 25 September 2013. 
  4. ↑ Harper, Douglas. "Online Etymology Dictionary". http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=merism&searchmode=none. Retrieved 25 Sep 2015. 
  5. ↑ "Online Dictionary of Language Terminology". http://www.odlt.org/ballast/merism.html. Retrieved 25 Sep 2015. 
  6. ↑ Burton, Gideon O.. "merismus". https://rhetoric.byu.edu/Figures/M/merismus.htm. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lanham, Richard A. (1991). A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms (2nd ed.). pp. 59. ISBN 9780520273689. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Puttenham, George (Aug 3, 2005). "Merismus, or the Distributer". The Arte of English Poesie. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16420. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Forsyth, Mark (2013). "Merism". The Elements of Eloquence. ISBN 9780425276181. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Lein, John Elliott (August 3, 2015). "Merisms and the Non-Duality of Creation". https://www.jelliottlein.com/writing/2015/8/3/merisms-and-the-non-duality-of-creation. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Nordquist, Richard (April 30, 2025). "Definitions and Examples of Merisms in Rhetoric". https://www.thoughtco.com/merism-rhetoric-term-1691307. 
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Schmid, Leonie (December 11, 2024). "Merism – Definition, Use, Purpose & Examples". https://www.bachelorprint.com/academic-writing/merism/. 
  13. ↑ Schleicher, Gordon (April 30, 2026). "Unlocking Scripture". https://michiganumc.org/about-the-michigan-conference/. 
  14. ↑ Bateson, William (1894). Materials for the study of variation. ISBN 9781108053129. 
  15. ↑ Louis P. Ronse De Craene (4 February 2010). Floral Diagrams: An Aid to Understanding Flower Morphology and Evolution. Cambridge University Press. p. 23. ISBN 978-1-139-48455-8. https://books.google.com/books?id=24p-LgWPA50C&pg=PA23. 
  16. ↑ Espenschied, Lenné Eidson (2010). Contract Drafting: Powerful Prose in Transactional Practice. American Bar Association. 

Further reading

  • William Bateson, Materials For The Study Of Variation: Treated With Especial Regard To Discontinuity In The Origin Of Species (Macmillan and Co., 1894)
  • Bryan A. Garner, The Elements of Legal Style. (Oxford, 2001. ISBN 0-19-514162-8)
  • Calvert Watkins, How to Kill a Dragon: Aspects of Indo-European Poetics (Oxford, 2001. ISBN 0-19-514413-9)



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