Cetaceus

Prosopopoeia |prəˌsōpəˈpēə; ˌpräsə-|
noun
1 a figure of speech in which an abstract thing is personified.
2 a figure of speech in which an imagined or absent person or thing is represented as speaking.
ORIGIN mid 16th cent.: via Latin from Greek prosōpopoiia, from prosōpon ‘person’ + poiein ‘to make.’

propaedeutic |ˌprōpiˈd(y)oōtik|
adjective formal
(of an area of study) serving as a preliminary instruction or as an introduction to further study.
DERIVATIVES
propaedeutical |ˈproʊpiˈd(j)udəkəl| adjective
ORIGIN late 18th cent.: from pro- 2 [before] + Greek paideutikos ‘of or for teaching,’ suggested by Greek propaideuein ‘teach beforehand.’

amphibology |ˌamfəˈbäləjē|
noun ( pl. -gies)
a phrase or sentence that is grammatically ambiguous, such as she sees more of her children than her husband.
DERIVATIVES
amphibolous |amˈfibələs| adjective
ORIGIN late Middle English : from Old French amphibologie, from late Latin amphibologia, from Latin amphibolia, from Greek amphibolos ‘ambiguous’ (see amphibole ).

You find cognates in the strangest places:

crepuscule |kriˈpəsˌkyoōl|
noun
the period of partial darkness at the beginning or end of the day; twilight.

[uh-pawr-ee-uh, uh-pohr-] –noun, plural a·po·ri·as, a·po·ri·ae
1. Rhetoric. the expression of a simulated or real doubt, as about where to begin or what to do or say.

2. Logic, Philosophy. a difficulty encountered in establishing the theoretical truth of a proposition, created by the presence of evidence both for and against it.

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[Origin: 1580–90; < LL < Gk: state of being at a loss, equiv. to ápor(os) impassable (see a-6, pore2) + -ia -ia]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

“Hence, too, modern democracy’s specific aporia: it wants to put the freedom and happiness of men into play in the very place– “bare life” [zoe]–that marked thier subjection”

–Giorgio Agamben, 1985: Homo Sacer: Soverign Power & Bare Life, pp. 9-10.

su·per·pose /ˌsupərˈpoʊz/ [soo-per-pohz]

[Origin: 1815–25; < F superposer. See super-, pose¹]

—Related forms

• coinciding exactly when superimposed; “identical triangles”
• identical
• congruent - coinciding when superimposed

mei·o·sis (mī-ō’sĭs)

n. pl. mei·o·ses (-sēz’)

1. Genetics The process of cell division in sexually reproducing organisms that reduces the number of chromosomes in reproductive cells from diploid to haploid, leading to the production of gametes in animals and spores in plants.
2. Rhetorical understatement.

[Greek meiōsis, diminution, from meioun, to diminish, from meiōn, less; see mei-² in Indo-European roots.]

mei·ot’ic (-ŏt’ĭk) adj., mei·ot’i·cal·ly adv.

It is the second definition, referring to rhetorical understatement, with which we are here concerned. The dictionary.com entry sets it up as follows:

2. Rhetoric.
a. belittlement.
b. expressive understatement, esp. litotes.
[Origin: 1580–90; < Gk meíōsis a lessening, equiv. to meiō-, var. s. of meioûn to lessen (deriv. of meíōn less) + -sis -sis]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

With particular regard to the adjective form, meiotic. In Abnormal, the collection of Michel Foucault’s lectures at the College De France 1974-1975, Foucault cites the report of a psychiatric examination of one of three men involved in a robbery and blackmail case in 1973. Foucault quotes the examining psychiatrist as saying the following about one of the men in question:

Morally, he is a cynical and immoral individual. He wallows in depravity and is manifestly deceitful and reticent. On must literally practice a meiotic with regard to him. But the most typical feature of his character seems to be an idleness whose importance can hardly be described.

–quoted in M. Foucault’s lecture of 8 January 1975, in Abnormal. Read more »

fis·sip·a·rous (fĭ-sĭp’ər-əs)

adj.

1. Reproducing by biological fission.
2. Tending to break up into parts or break away from a main body; factious.
3. having separated or advocating separation from another entity or policy or attitude; “a breakaway faction”

fis·sip’a·rous·ly adv., fis·sip’a·rous·ness n.

“We are left then with a theory that is intended to explain much, but not necessarily all, of what James took to be religious experience in terms of shifting psychical centers of energy within a self that is understood to be inherently fissiparous” –Ann Taves “The Fragmentation of Conciousness,” in William James and a Science of Religions, pp. 63, Wayne Proudfoot, editor.