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acrostic
Columbia Encyclopedia entry: acrostic
Acrosticəkrŏ'stĭk, arrangement of words or lines in which a series of initial, final, or other corresponding letters, when taken together, stand in a set order to form a word, a phrase, the alphabet, or the like. A famous acrostic was made on the Greek for Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior: Iesous Christos, Theou Uios, Soter (ch and th being each one letter in Greek). The initials spell ichthus, Greek for fish; hence the frequent use of the fish by early Christians as a symbol for Jesus. There are several alphabetic acrostics (pertaining to the Hebrew alphabet) in the Bible, e.g., in Ps. 119 and Lamentations. Acrostic verses are common, and very elaborate puzzles have been devised combining several schemes.

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Wikipedia search results for: Acrostic
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An acrostic is a poem or other form of writing in an alphabetic script, in which the first letter, syllable or word of each line, paragraph or other recurring feature in the text spells out a word or a message. As a form of constrained writing, an acrostic can be used as a mnemonic device to aid memory retrieval. A famous acrostic was made in Greek for the acclamation JESUS CHRIST, GOD'S SON, SAVIOUR which in Greek is: Iesous CHristos, THeou Yios, Soter, ch and th being each one letter in Greek. The initials spell ICHTHYS , Greek for fish – hence the frequent use of the fish as a symbol for...more »
Columbia Encyclopedia search results: acrostic
Results 1 - 5  of 5
  • Nahum

    Nahum, 7th of the books of the Minor Prophets of the Bible. It contains oracles of doom against Nineveh, capital of the Assyrian Empire, delivered by one Nahum of Elkosh, who is otherwise unkn...

  • Davies, Sir John

    Davies, Sir John

  • Lamentations

    Lamentations, book of the Bible, placed immediately after Jeremiah, to whose author it has been ascribed since ancient times. It was probably composed by several authors. It is a series of fiv...

  • crossword puzzle

    Crossword puzzle, word game in which words corresponding to numbered clues are put into a grid of horizontal and vertical squares to form intersecting words. The puzzle is solved when a player...

  • Byzantine music

    Byzantine music, the music of the Byzantine Empire composed to Greek texts as ceremonial, festival, or church music.Long thought to be only a further development of ancient Greek music, Byzant...

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