Chiasmus

The Chiasmus ( Latinized from gr χιασμός chiasmós " crossing ", from χίασμα chiasm " crossroads " after the Greek letter Χ, Chi; το in modern Greek terminology χιαστό ) is a rhetorical figure in which sentence parts and phrases (subject, predicate, object ) are arranged crosswise opposite in otherwise parallel ( sub-) sets according to the SPO -OPS scheme.

Examples

" But because we know that man is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ even we have believed in Christ Jesus that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law; for no man is justified by works of the law. "

"The world is big, small is the mind. "

"Oh God! Art is long, / And short is our life. "

" The stakes were high, the profit was small. "

" Strait is the world and the brain is far away. "

" The weapon of criticism can not replace the criticism of weapons. "

"I sleep in the day, at night I wake up. "

The chiasmus is in particular to highlight antitheses, but it could also be used independently of it to make certain formulations particularly memorable or concise.

A special case of the chiasm is the Epanodos, in which repeat the crossed words. Especially in Latin of the chiasmus is often used: Temporibus antiquis - novisque moribus (old times - new customs ). This is probably because that a chiasmus, due to the many possibilities of word order in Latin can be formed easily.

The logical opposite of the chiasm is the synchysis ( related word order ).