# apophasis
## English
### Etymology

Via Late Latin apophasis from Ancient Greek ἀπόφασις (apóphasis, “denial, negation”) from ἀπο- (apo-, “away, from, off”) +‎ φάσις (phásis, “statement, proposition”) from φημί (phēmí, “to speak”) from Proto-Hellenic *pʰā́mā from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂; whence Latin fārī, cognate to fame, fable.

### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /əˈpɒf.ə.sɪs/
* (US) IPA: /əˈpɑf.ə.sɪs/

### Noun

apophasis (countable and uncountable, plural apophases)
* (rhetoric) An allusion to something by denying that it will be mentioned.
    Synonyms: paralipsis, parasiopesis, praeteritio, preterition
    Hypernym: irony
    Hyponyms: proslepsis, assumptio
    Coordinate terms: antiphrasis, concessio, epitrope, mycterism, sarcasm
** 1835, L[arret] Langley, A Manual of the Figures of Rhetoric, […], Doncaster: Printed by C. White, Baxter-Gate, →OCLC, page 63:Apophasis, affecting to conceal; What it would seem to hide, will yet reveal.
* (Christianity, philosophy, theology) A process of arriving at knowledge by statements of denial; particularly, developing a concept of God through negative assertions about his nature.
    Synonyms: apophatic theology, via negativa
    Antonyms: cataphasis, via affirmativa

#### Related terms

* apo-
* -phasis
* apophatic
* apophatically

#### See also

* not to mention
* to say nothing of

## Latin
### Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀπόφασις (apóphasis, “denial, negation”), ἀπο- (apo-, “away, from, off”) +‎ φάσις (phásis, “statement, proposition”) from ἀπόφημι (apóphēmi, “speak out; say no, refuse, deny”) from Attic Greek φημί (phēmí), Doric Greek φᾱμί (phāmí) from Proto-Hellenic *pʰā́mā from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂; whence via Proto-Italic *fāōr, *fāmā compare fārī, fābula, fāma, hence English fable, fame.

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /aˈpo.pʰa.sis/, [äˈpɔpʰäs̠ɪs̠]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /aˈpo.fa.sis/, [äˈpɔːfäs̬is]

### Noun

apophasis f (genitive apophasis); third declension
* denial, negation, repudiation
* (Late Latin, logic, rhetoric) apophasis; ironically alluding to a subject matter by denying that the subject will be mentioned, embedded within a statement or rhetorical question whereby one, as it were, answers himself
* (Ecclesiastical Latin, Christianity, philosophy, theology) apprehending knowledge of what is true about an unknowable, such as the essence of a divine being like God, by a negative process of denying propositions that are knowably untrue
    Synonyms: abnuentia, negatio, (New Latin) via negativa
    Antonyms: affirmatio, aientia, cataphasis, (New Latin) via affirmativa

#### Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem).
| Case | Singular | Plural |
| Nominative | apophasis | apophasēs |
| Genitive | apophasis | apophasium |
| Dative | apophasī | apophasibus |
| Accusative | apophasem | apophasēs apophasīs |
| Ablative | apophase | apophasibus |
| Vocative | apophasis | apophasēs |

#### Descendants

* English: apophasis
* French: apophase
* Galician: apófase
* → Finnish: apofaasi
* Portuguese: apófase
* → Russian: Апофазия (Apofazija)

### Noun

apophasīs f
* accusative plural of apophasis

### References

* “apophasis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “apophasis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* apophasis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 142.
* apophasis in Georges, Karl Ernst, Georges, Heinrich (1913–1918) Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th edition, volume 1, Hahnsche Buchhandlung, column 499