Encomium

For the Led Zeppelin tribute album released in 1995, see Encomium (album).

For the US ship that went aground in the Bahamas in 1834 and whose cargo of slaves were freed in Nassau, see Encomium (brig).

Encomium is a Latin word deriving from the Classical Greek ἐγκώμιον (enkomion) meaning "the praise of a person or thing." 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.

External links

• The dictionary definition of encomium at Wiktionaryde:Laudatio