hapax legomenon (plural: hapax legomena)
noun phrase

- a unique word or phrase that appears only once in a manuscript, document, or particular area of literature

Dictionary dot Com

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PHRASE ORIGIN

The term "hapax legomenon" originates from Greek, specifically from the words ἅπαξ (hápax) meaning "once" and λεγόμενον (legómenon) meaning "said”. Together, the form "hapax legomenon" translates to "something said only once”.

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LOVELY LONELY WORDS

The works of Shakespeare contain thousands of hapax legomena, somewhere in the region of 6,500. These are simply only mentioned once across the Shakespearian canon but do exist outside of it.

One of the most intriguing of these — ‘honorificabilitudinitatibus’ — is one of the longest non-technical words in the English language: Shakespeare mentioned it just once, in ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’ and meant something like ‘honourableness’.

Honorificabilitudinitatibus was in use quite a number of centuries before Shakespeare decided to dust it off and give it a resurgence, with James Joyce and Charles Dickens only too happy to spread the good word centuries later.

In the fields of textual analysis and linguistics, hapax legomena are significant for various reasons:

- Textual Criticism = Scholars examining ancient texts often pay special attention to hapax legomena because they can provide insights into the author's vocabulary, the language of a particular period, or even potential textual corruption.

- Lexicography = Hapax legomena pose challenges to compiling dictionaries or lexicons. If a word only occurs once, it can be difficult to determine its meaning definitively.

- Stylistic Analysis = Authors sometimes use hapax legomena for stylistic effect, such as to convey a particular nuance or to create a sense of novelty or uniqueness.

- Translation Challenges = Translators may encounter difficulties when faced with hapax legomena, as there may not be direct equivalents in the target language, requiring them to make informed decisions based on context and linguistic analysis.

Overall, the term "hapax legomenon" serves as a useful concept in linguistic and literary studies, highlighting the singularity and potential significance of words that appear only once within a given textual context.

Paul Smith

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SYNONYMS

- Synonyms for ‘unique’:

a breed apart, a departure (deviation) from the norm (the commonplace), a fresh take, a new twist, a one-off, a rara avis, a rare bird, abnormal, anomalous, atypical, bespoke, breaking fresh (new) ground (the mold), corresponding to nothing else, defying comparison (duplication), departing from the usual, deviating (differing) from the commonplace (all others, the ordinary), distinct, especial, exclusive, exemplified by only a single instance, idiosyncratic, incomparable, individual, inimitable, it could happen only once, itself alone, leave (leaving) no equal (nothing to be compared), lone (creature, example), matchless, never before known (seen, witnessed), new, non-canonical, non-traditional, novel, one of a kind, original, peerless, quilted in its own pattern, remarkable, removing all comparison, revealing its own nature, self-same, signatured, singular, sole, special, sui generis, unable to be duplicated (equaled, matched), unequaled, unheard of, unimitated, UNIQUE, unmatched, unprecedented, unseen before, worth cherishing (savouring, treasuring), written anew

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SMUGGLE OWAD into an English conversation, say something like:

“Did you know that the longest word in Shakespeare — ‘honorificabilitudinitatibus’ — is also a HAPAX LEGOMENON — listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qlw4lQ5JiAM:”

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