Oxymoron

The oxymoron (from the Greek ὀξύμωρον, oxymoron, in Latin Contradictio in terminis), within the literary figures in rhetoric, is a logical figure that consists of using two concepts of opposite meaning in a single expression, which generates a third concept. Since the literal meaning of oxymoron is opposite, 'absurd' (for example, "an eternal instant"), the reader or interlocutor is forced to understand the metaphorical meaning (in this case: an instant which, due to the intensity of what has been experienced during its course, makes you lose track of time).

The use of this rhetorical figure is very frequent in mystical and love poetry and in functional analysis, since it is considered that the experience of God or love transcends all mundane antinomies. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus makes frequent reference to it.

Etymology and use of the term

The term oxymoron is a compound word, a Hellenism (neologisms) introduced in the 15th century that unites the lexemes ὀξύς (oxýs: 'sharp, sharp') and μωρός (morós: 'flabby, blunt, dumb'). Therefore, its own etymology is based on an oxymoron.

Regarding the plural of the voice, according to the Pan-Hispanic Dictionary of Dudas,

Must remain invariable in plural (oxymoron), since there are no substantive in Spanish overshadows... It is also documented, and valid, the plural Oxymoros.

It does not correspond to the tradition of the Spanish language to preserve the Greek plural (*oxymora), common, however, in English and German (oxymora).

Examples

• «Festina lente»“Be quick” (César Augusto, 63 a. C.-14 d. C.)
• [chuckles] Love is "blind sight, dark light, / sad glory, dead life" (Rodrigo Cota de Maguaque, f. 1498)
• [chuckles] Love is] "heel abrasor, it is frozen fire, / it is hurt that hurts and does not feel..." (Francisco de Quevedo, 1580-1645).
• "Placeres horrendous and sweetness" (Charles Baudelaire, 1821-1867).
• "Beatriz was tall, fragile, very slightly inclined; there was in his walk (if the oxymoron is tolerable) a gracious clumsy, a principle of ecstasy" (Jorge Luis Borges, 1899-1986: The aleph).
• "In the figure called oxymoron, a word is applied to an epithet that seems to contradict it; so the gnostics spoke of a dark light; the alchemists, of a black sun" (Jorge Luis Borges: The zahir).

Opposite figure

The opposite of the oxymoron is pleonasm ("I saw her with my own eyes").