A Homoioteleuton (also Homoeoteleuton, Omoioteliton, Omoioteleton) is a figure in Rhetoric. The term is composed of Greek homoios "equal" and teleute "end".
It describes a sort of assonance, the occurrence of similar endings in words of consecutive clauses. In Late Antiquity, the homoioteleuton developed into rhyme.
For example: How churlishly I chid Lucetta hence When wilingly I would have had her here! How angerly I taught my brow to frown... (Two Gentlemen of Verona, I.ii.60)
In palaeography, a homoioteleuton is a omission whereby the copyist has accidentally skipped some bit of text, having looked away from the text he was copying and then looking back at a different spot where the same bit of text occurs, and copying from that point on.
Last updated: 08-19-2005 22:41:34