prosodiac

From Middle French prosodiaque and its etymon Late Latin prosōdiacus, from Koine Greek προσοδιακός (prosodiakós), from Ancient Greek προσόδιον (prosódion) + -ακός (-akós).^[1] By surface analysis, prosodi(on) +‎ -ac.

prosodiac (plural prosodiacs)

1. (Ancient Greece, music, prosody) A verse used in prosodia, having three anapests, of which the first may be substituted with a spondee or iamb.
   • 1603, Plutarch, “Of Musicke. A Dialogue. […]”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Philosophie, Commonlie Called, The Morals […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield, →OCLC, page 1257, lines 10–11:

     Moreover, unto him [Archilochus], as firſt inventour, are attributed the Epodes, Tetrameter, Iambicks, Procritique and Proſodiacks; […]

   • 1889, M[ilton] W[ylie] H[umphreys], “[Reviews and Book Notices.] A Theory of the Origin and Development of the Heroic Hexameter. By Fitz Gerald Tisdall, […]”, in Basil L[anneau] Gildersleeve, editor, The American Journal of Philology, volume X, number 2 (38 overall), Baltimore, Md.: The editor; New York, N.Y.; London: Macmillan & Co.; Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 225:

     Moreover, one of the most natural uses of verse would be to march by; and for this purpose the triple beat would not serve without a pause. This would lead us to the paroemiac or prosodiac, and to the well known theory of [Theodor] Bergk, or the slightly different theory of [Hermann] Usener.

   • 1896, Herbert Weir Smyth, “Notes on the Anapaests of Aischylos”, in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, volume VII, Boston, Mass.: […] Ginn & Company; […], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 163:

     Pers[ians] 694–696 = 700–702 may be regarded as consisting of two prosodiacs and a paroemiac. It is, however, better to scan the first two verses as ionic dimeters, retaining the paroemiac close, though a logaoedic rhythm […] often occurs at the end of a strophe. The assumption of ionics avoids the necessity of resolving the second arsis of the prosodiacs.

   • 1981, Godfrey W. Bond, “Commentary”, in Euripides, Heracles […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →ISBN, footnote 1, page 296:

     Prosodiacs normally start with double-short —◡◡— (d) and end with single-short —◡— (s).

prosodiac (not comparable)

1. (Ancient Greece, music, prosody) Of or relating to a prosodion or prosodiac.
   • [1775?], J[ean-]J[acques] Rousseau, translated by William Waring, “Prosodiac”, in A Dictionary of Music. […], London: […] J. French, […], →OCLC, page 329:

     The proſodiac nome was ſung in honour of Mars, and was, they ſay, invented by Olympus.

   • 1889, M[ilton] W[ylie] H[umphreys], “[Reviews and Book Notices.] A Theory of the Origin and Development of the Heroic Hexameter. By Fitz Gerald Tisdall, […]”, in Basil L[anneau] Gildersleeve, editor, The American Journal of Philology, volume X, number 2 (38 overall), Baltimore, Md.: The editor; New York, N.Y.; London: Macmillan & Co.; Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 224:

     Some verses, for instance, bear much stronger marks of an original spondaic rhythm than others of the same number of feet. There seem, for instance, to have been prosodiac and paroemiac verses based on the spondee.

   • 1896, Herbert Weir Smyth, “Notes on the Anapaests of Aischylos”, in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, volume VII, Boston, Mass.: […] Ginn & Company; […], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 142:

     The specific characteristics of melic anapaests are: […] (6) The presence of catalectic and acatalectic (prosodiac) tripodies.

   • 1981, Godfrey W. Bond, “Commentary”, in Euripides, Heracles […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →ISBN, footnote 1, page 330:

     With a shorter prosodiac line which is then repeated, 1075 f., according to [James] Diggle’s colometry.

From prosody +‎ -ac. Perhaps compare Koine Greek προσῳδιακός (prosōidiakós), an alteration by association with Ancient Greek προσῳδία (prosōidía) of προσοδιακός (prosodiakós). Late Latin prosōdiacus has also sometimes been interpreted as showing this sense.^[2]

prosodiac (comparative more prosodiac, superlative most prosodiac)

1. (rare) Synonym of prosodic.
   • 1975, Shahab Sarmadee, “Musical Genius of Amir Khusrau”, in Amir Khusrau: Memorial Volume, New Delhi: Publications Division, […], →OCLC, page 47:

     This is in very brief “the ingrained musicality” of Khusrau’s ghazals. His prosodiac finesse in succeeding to avoid even شکست روا is added to it.

   • 1991 May 7, Constantinos A. Caroutas, “Hi Pano”, in soc.culture.greek‎^[1] (Usenet), archived from the original on 19 January 2026:

     Who cares that they pronounced things differently? Ancient Greek was a prosodiac language while modern Greek is not.

   • 2017 December 31, vtheoc...@gmail.com [Vasilis], “How pronounce "Nausicaa"?”, in humanities.classics‎^[2] (Usenet), archived from the original on 19 January 2026:

     As regards the αυ diphthong, when I want to read it as two syllabes (today's speech is not prosodiac so it does not apply to modern greek^[sic]) I make it sound like aw, in any other case αβ or αφ as dictated by the modern greek^[sic] grammar rules, however most Greeks pronounce β and φ with their upper teeth in contact with their low lip which I believe is wrong.

• apicodorsal, dorsoapical