Encomium

Encomium is a Latin word deriving from the Classical Greek ἐγκώμιον (enkomion) meaning "the praise of a person or thing."^[1] Encomium also refers to several distinct aspects of rhetoric:

• A general category of oratory
• A method within rhetorical pedagogy
• A figure of speech. As a figure, encomium means praising a person or thing, but occurring on a smaller scale than an entire speech.
• The eighth exercise in the progymnasmata series
• A literary genre that included five elements: prologue, birth and upbringing, acts of the person's life, comparisons used to praise the subject, and an epilogue.

Examples

• Gorgias's famous Encomium of Helen offers several justifications for excusing Helen of Troy's adultery—notably, that she was persuaded by speech, which is a "powerful lord" or "powerful drug" depending on the translation.
• In Erasmus's Praise of Folly, Folly composes an encomium to herself. It is an ironic encomium because being praised by Folly is backwards praise; therefore, Folly praising herself is an ironic conundrum.
• De Pippini regis Victoria Avarica, a medieval encomium of victory of Pepin of Italy over the Avars
• Encomium Emmae, a medieval encomium of Queen Emma of Normandy
• Versum de Mediolano civitate, a medieval encomium of Milan
• Versus de Verona, a medieval encomium of Verona
• Polychronion, chanted in the liturgy of Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite
• A kind of encomium is used by the Christian writer Paul in his praise of love in 1 Corinthians 13. The prologue is verses 1-3, acts are v. 4-7, comparison is v. 8-12, and epilogue is 13:13-14:1.^[2]

References

1. ἐγκώμιον. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project
2. David E. Garland, Baker Exegetical Commentary, 1 Corinthians, 606, based on the work of Sigountos.

External links

• The dictionary definition of encomium at Wiktionary