The term alliteration was invented by the Italian humanist Giovanni Pontano (1426–1503), in his dialogue Actius,[1] to describe the practice common in Virgil, Lucretius, and other Roman writers of beginning words or syllables with the same consonant or vowel.
He gives examples such as Sale Saxa Sonābant "the rocks were resounding with the salt-water"[2] or Anchīsēn Agnōvit Amīcum "he recognised his friend Anchises"[3] or Multā Mūnīta Virum Vī "defended by a great force of men".
[5] Since "x" is pronounced [ks], the phrase Sale SaXa Sonābant "the rocks were resounding with sea water" (Virgil) can also be considered an example of this kind.
Alliteration was a prominent feature of Latin literature (in contrast to Greek), especially in poetry in the 3rd to 1st centuries BC, and continued to be used by some writers even in the Middle Ages.
"[7] The German classicist August Ferdinand Naeke (1829) also accepted internal alliteration and cited examples such as paene eFFrēgistī Fatue Foribus cardinēs "you've nearly broken the hinges of the door, you idiot!"
[9] From the examples Bailey gives, such as ipse, it is clear that he considered that consonants at the end of syllables and words could contribute to alliteration as well as those at the beginning.
[10] Thus when several words in a row begin with the same vowel, as in Incidit Ictus Ingēns ad terram "the huge man, struck, falls to the ground" (Virgil),[11] some scholars follow Pontano in referring to it as alliteration,[12] while others use the term assonance.
[13] Conversely, when a medial consonant is involved, as in SaXa Sonābant, it is called "internal alliteration" by Bailey[14] but would be considered as assonance by Maclennan.
[19] Alliteration frequently overlaps with assonance, which is defined by one dictionary as "a resemblance in the sounds of words or syllables, either between their vowels (e.g. meat, bean) or between their consonants (e.g. keep, cape)".
[34] Examples of popular phrases are: Oleum et Operam perdere "to waste both oil and time", Cavē Canem "beware of the dog", Vīvus Vidēnsque "alive and well", Satis Superque "enough and more", Albus an Āter "white or black", Pūblica Prīvāta "public and private", and so on.
Legal and religious phrases included such as Tabulae Testēsque "tablets and witnesses", Ārae et Altāria "altars and shrines", Tēcta Templa "houses and temples", Fortēs Fidēlēs "brave and loyal", Fūsī Fugātī "routed and put to flight", Fors Fortūna "Chance and Fortune".
[36] It has been noted that in these phrases that if one of two alliterated words has an "a" in it, it is usually placed second: Ferrō Flammāque "by sword and flame", Longē Lātēque "far and wide", Collēs Campīque "hills and plains", Multī et Magnī "many and great".
[37] When the words are of unequal length, the shorter one usually precedes: Fāma Fortūna "fame and fortune", Aurum Argentum "gold and silver", Cūra Custōdiaque "care and custody", and so on.
McGann (1958) concludes that alliteration is an important but occasional device which adds greatly to the effect of the composition, but does not perform a structural function in the carmen as a whole.
[77] Alliteration became very frequent again in north African authors of the 2nd and 3rd century A.D.: "It occurs on almost every page of Apuleius, Fronto, and Tertullian, and is very common in Cyprian.
Often there is alliteration in both of these places at once, as in the following line of Ovid: Greenberg (1980), who criticises Clarke's study as statistically unsound in some respects,[85] compares Virgil and Lucretius.
[96] As Headlam (1920) notes, often the alliteration runs through a passage, linking together the various clauses, as in the opening of Aeneid 4, where the letters C, C, V, V, T, T recur repeatedly, as well as assonances such as vulnus / virtūs / multus / vultus, cūrā / carpitur / recursat, and gentis / haerent: In his commentary on these lines, Ingo Gildenhard suggests that in the repeated alliteration with V in three pairs of words, Virgil seems to be hinting at a thematic link between the vulnus "wound" of Dido and the virtūs "manliness", vultūs "face", and verba "words" of Aeneas.
Here the alliteration of F F is accompanied by an assonance of OSS ISS: When Scylla silently enters her father's bedroom and cuts off the lock of hair whose loss will destroy the city, the letter T is constantly repeated, the word facinus "crime" and fātālī "fatal" are emphasised by alliteration of F, and intrat ... nāta parentem are linked by the assonance of NT.
Finally alliteration of S emphasises the word spoliat "robs": In the following lines Ovid describes the dangerous moment in the flight of Icarus when he flies too close to the sun.
Another highly alliterative work produced in England is the Melos Amoris ("Melody of Love") written about 1330 by the Yorkshire mystic Richard Rolle.