Definitions for stichometry
sti·chom·e·t·ry

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Stichometry

   Stichometry is the practice of counting lines in texts: Ancient Greeks and Romans measured the length of their books in lines, just as modern books are measured in pages. This practice was rediscovered by German and French scholars in the 19th century. Stichos (pl. stichoi) is the Greek word for a 'line' of prose or poetry and the suffix '-metry' is derived from the Greek word for measurement. The length of each line in the Iliad and Odyssey, which may have been among the first long, Greek texts written down, became the standard unit for ancient stichometry. This standard line (Normalzeile, in German) was thus as long as an epic hexameter and contained about 15 syllables or 35 Greek letters.Stichometry existed for several reasons. Scribes were paid by the line and their fee per line was sometimes fixed by legal decree. Authors occasionally cited passages in the works of other authors by giving their approximate line number. Book buyers used total line counts to check that copied texts were complete. Library catalogs listed the total number of lines in each work along with the title and author.Scholars believe that stichometry became established in Athens sometime during the 5th century BC when copying prose works became common. Stichometry is mentioned briefly in Plato's Laws (c. 347 BC), several times in Isocrates (early to mid-4th century), and in Theopompus (late 4th to early 3rd century), but these casual references suggest the practice was already routine. The same standard line was used for stichometry among the Greeks and Romans for about a thousand years until stichometry apparently fell out of use among the Byzantine Greeks in the Middle Ages as page numbers became more common.The standard work on stichometry is Kurt Ohly's 1928 Stichometrische Untersuchungen which collects together the results of some fifty years of scholarly debate and research. Today, stichometry plays a small but useful role in research in fields as diverse as the history of the ancient book, papyrology, and Christian hermeneutics.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Stichometrynoun

   measurement of books by the number of lines which they contain

2. Stichometrynoun

   division of the text of a book into lines; especially, the division of the text of books into lines accommodated to the sense, -- a method of writing manuscripts used before punctuation was adopted

3. Etymology: [Gr. a line + -metry.]

WikidataRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Stichometry

   Stichometry is a term applied to the measurement of ancient texts by στίχοι or verses of a fixed standard length. It was the custom of the Greeks and Romans to estimate the length of their literary works by measured lines. In poetical works the number of metrical verses was computed; in prose works a standard line had to be taken, for no two scribes would naturally write lines of the same length. On the authority of Galen we learn that the unit of measurement among the Greeks was the average Homeric line, consisting of about 36 letters, or 16 syllables. The lines so measured were called στίχοι or ἔπη. The practice of thus computing the length of a work can be traced back to the 4th century BC in the boast of Theopompus that he had written more ἔπη than any other writer. The number of such στίχοι or ἔπη contained in a papyrus roll was recorded at the end of the work; and at the end of a large work extending to several rolls the grand total was given. The object of such stichometrical calculations was a commercial one, viz. to assess the pay of the scribe and the market value of the manuscript. Callimachus, when he drew up his catalogue of the Alexandrian libraries in the 3rd century BC, registered the total of the στίχοι in each work. Although he is generally lauded for thus carefully recording the numbers and setting an example to all who should follow him, it has been suggested that this very act was the cause of their general disappearance from manuscripts; for that, when his πίνακες were published, scribes evidently thought it was needless to repeat what could be found there; and thus it is that so few manuscripts have descended to us which are marked in this way. A more natural reason for the scarcity of such details is that scribes and booksellers suppressed them in order to impose upon their customers.

How to pronounce stichometry?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say stichometry in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of stichometry in Chaldean Numerology is: 3

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of stichometry in Pythagorean Numerology is: 2

References

1. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stichometry
2. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stichometry
3. ^ Wikidata
   https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=stichometry