Noctes Atticae

The Latin word coined by Sinnius Capito for

solecism,

and what the early writers of Latin called that same fault: and also Sinnius Capito's definition of a solecism.

A solecism, which by Sinnius Capito and other lien of his time was called in Latin inparilitas, or

inequality,

the earlier Latin writers termed stribiligo, [*](This word, which seems to occur only here and in Arnobius i. 36, apparently means twisted, awry.) evidently meaning the improper use of an inverted form of expression, a sort of twist as it were. This kind of fault is thus defined by Sinnius Capito, in a letter which lie wrote to Clodius Tuscus:

A solecism,

he says, [*](Fr. 2, Huschke.)

is an irregular and incongruous joining together of the parts of speech.

Since

soloecismus

is a Greek word, the question is often asked, whether it was used by the men of Attica who spoke most elegantly. But I have as yet found neither soloecismus nor barbarismus [*](These words were applied to any impropriety in the use of language.) in good Greek writers; for just as they used ba/rbaros, so they used so/loikos. [*](Both words have the general meaning of foreign ; according to some, so/loikos was derived from Soloi, a town of Cilicia, whose inhabitants spoke a perverted Attic dialect. This derivation seems to be accepted to-day. Barbarus is regarded as an onomatopoeic word, representing stammering; cf. balbus.) So too our earlier writers used soloecus regularly, soloecismus never, I think. But if that be so, soloecismus is proper usage neither in Greek nor in Latin.