Friday Night Vodka Buzz. Ask me anything.

[NNadir]

16. Your remarks led me to learn a new word: antanaclasis.

I haven't much familiarity with Shakespeare's comedies, with the possible exception of a Midsummer's Nights Dream; I'm a tragedy kind of guy, Macbeth, Hamlet, Lear kind of guy.

Apparently the text you quoted actually reads like this:

The count is neither sad, nor sick, nor merry, nor
well; but civil count, civil as an orange, and
something of that jealous complexion.

Exploring the text I came across this text referring to the word:

Antanaclasis is when a word is repeated in a sentence with two or more different meanings for the word. An example of Antanaclasis is in Shakespeares "Much Ado About Nothing," when Beatrice says
"The count is neither sad, nor sick, nor merry, nor
well; but civil count, civil as an orange, and
something of that jealous complexion."

In this passage, the word civil is used twice: The first time it is used in its normal context, but the second time it is used as a pun. Back in Shakespeare's day, the city of Seville was where bitter oranges on, and so the "civil as an orange" is a play of words which say that Claudio is very bitter. Additionally, in Shakespeare's day orange as envy, not green, thus the word "civil" serves two meanings in one.

This is what is meant as an Antanaclasis, a sentence with similar with different meaning. Thus we have civil=polite, and civil=bitter.

Apparently in Elizabethan times people would understand the pun; we by contrast have far more information at our finger tips but little of the wit.

Thanks. It gives me great pleasure to come across a new word in our rich language. It doesn't happen as often as I would like anymore, coming across a word with which I'm not familiar, maybe five or so times a year, usually a technical word, not a general word.