Metathesis (linguistics)

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Metathesis ( mə-TATH-ə-siss; from Greek μετάθεσις, from μετατίθημι "to put in a different order") is the transposition of sounds or syllables in a word or of words in a sentence. Most commonly, it refers to the interchange of two or more contiguous segments or syllables, known as adjacent metathesis or local metathesis: anemone > **anenome (onset consonants of adjacent syllables) cavalry > **calvary (codas of adjacent syllables) Metathesis may also involve interchanging non-contiguous sounds, known as nonadjacent metathesis, long-distance metathesis, or hyperthesis, as shown in these examples of metathesis sound change from Latin to Spanish: Latin parabola > Spanish palabra "word" Latin miraculum > Spanish milagro "miracle" Latin periculum > Spanish peligro "danger, peril" Latin crocodilus > Spanish cocodrilo "crocodile" Many languages have words that show this phenomenon, and some even use it as a regular part of their grammar, such as Hebrew and Fur. The process of metathesis has altered...

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