Hapax legomenon

As Hapax legomenon (plural: Hapax legomena; (only) once what is said '; hapax of Greek ἅπαξ, once '; λεγόμενον Legomenon what is said '), Hapax or single document is called a linguistic expression in only at a single point a given text or corpus is occupied. If you see a word, a word form or phrase twice in a text, one speaks of a Dis legomenon, at three sites of Tris legomenon.

Hapax legomena in Quantitative Linguistics

In the field of Quantitative Linguistics Hapax legomena play a special role. Their share in the respective text or text corpus is always regarded as an important structural feature of the relevant vocabulary. Well known is the diversity index ( "index of diversity" ), which can be defined in two different ways: first as the ratio between Hapax legomena and all the words that occur with other frequencies, or 2 as the ratio of hapax legomena and the total number of words in a text or corpus of texts. For Muller, they are a style feature: " The total amount of vocabulary with the frequency (or Subhäufigkeit ) 1, ... appears as a constant number next to the other classes, is therefore to be treated as a stylistic element and with the wealth of Situationslexik in context bring. "

Those Hapax legomena who have turned out in a large corpus, as such, can be regarded as comparatively rare words. They are then in a web of relationships that exist between the frequency of words and a number of other properties, such as its length or the number of its meanings ( Köhler loop: linguistic synergetics ) and be seen as legitimate.

Hapax legomena in ancient texts

In the study of older texts Hapax legomena can be a particular problem. Since they are only used once and is therefore only in a single context, it may prove difficult to determine the exact meaning of the word in question, if there are not other tools available.

Some other aspects of the meaning of hapax legomena

In the interpretation of the Bible according to the historical-critical method is a hapax legomenon is regarded as evidence that the author has incorporated foreign text material in his text or the text was changed by a later editor.

Some writers were famous for their Hapax legomena, such as Apuleius of Madauros, Jean Paul, Leopold Schefer, Kurt Hiller Kurt Schwitters or excelled with it.

Known examples of hapax legomenona are boys morning Blütenträume from Goethe's Prometheus and hymn Honorificabilitudinitatibus from Shakespeare's comedy Love's Labour Lost.