apophasis
From Ancient Greek ἀπόφασις (apóphasis, “denial, negation”), ἀπο- (apo-, “away, from, off”) + φάσις (phásis, “statement, proposition”) from ἀπόφημι(apóphēmi, “speak out; say no, refuse, deny”) from Attic Greek φημί (phēmí), Doric Greek φᾱμί (phāmí) from Proto-Hellenic *pʰā́mā from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂; whence via Proto-Italic *fāōr, *fāmā compare fārī, fābula, fāma, hence English fable, fame.
Pronunciation
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): /aˈpo.pʰa.sis/, [äˈpɔpʰäs̠ɪs̠]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /aˈpo.fa.sis/, [äˈpɔːfäs̬is]
Noun
apophasis f (genitive apophasis); third declension
- denial, negation, repudiation
- (Late Latin, logic, rhetoric) apophasis; ironically alluding to a subject matter by denying that the subject will be mentioned, embedded within a statement or rhetorical question whereby one, as it were, answers himself
- (Ecclesiastical Latin, Christianity, philosophy, theology) apprehending knowledge of what is true about an unknowable, such as the essence of a divine being like God, by a negative process of denying propositions that are knowably untrue [ synonyms, antonyms ▲]
- Synonyms: abnuentia, negatio, (New Latin) via negativa
- Antonyms: affirmatio, aientia, cataphasis, (New Latin) via affirmativa
Declension
Third-declension noun (i-stem).
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | apophasis | apophasēs |
| Genitive | apophasis | apophasium |
| Dative | apophasī | apophasibus |
| Accusative | apophasem | apophasēs apophasīs |
| Ablative | apophase | apophasibus |
| Vocative | apophasis | apophasēs |