AENIGMA  謎語連續寓意法

HISTRIONIC rhetorical device in which the speaker/writer expresses himself in a deliberately enigmatic way, making it hard to understand his meaning.

Deliberately obscure or esoteric allegory or metaphor.

See NOEMA. This must be carefully distinguished from simple use of recondite language, and the distinction is often hard to make post festum because what may seem recondite to us might often well have been colloquial and current to the ancients, though not well attested in the formal literature.

Greek: ainigma.

Ancient Chinese: Very common.

Hypernym
  • HISTRIONICSRHETORICAL TROPE which crucially involves playful dissimulation of one's real meaning.
    • RHETORICAL TROPE體裁詞格　RHETORICAL DEVICE mainly concerned with the structural semantics of expressions.
REF: Lausberg 899

Greek/Latin: Cicero, de or. 3.42.167. Quintilian 8.6.52 allegoria quae est obscurior, aenigma dicitur.

Ancient Chinese: Common in CHUCI Songs of the South and elsewhere.

NB: The question is whether what is aenigmatic without being demonstratively so involves a deliberate use of enigmatic diction, or whether modern and ancient readers just happen to lack relevant contextual information. The point remains that we must be prepared for deliberate use of AENIGMA in Chinese as in any other language.

In LY we do seem to have Confucius occasionally speaking in riddles.

Rhetorical device locations: 6
  • 論語 「慎終， 追遠

    I take it that Ze1ngzi3 is being deliberately aenigmatic.

  • 論語 「攻乎異端， 斯害也已
  • 論語 「里仁為美。 擇不處仁 焉得知

    This appears to be deliberately and provocatively enigmatic. However, there is always the chance that the pragmatic context would have disambiguated this painlessly.

  • 論語 「瑚璉也。」

    This is a deliberately enigmatic witty explanation which deliberately disappoints the questioner who was hoping for a more informative and helpful answer.

  • 論語 「觚不觚， 觚哉 觚哉
  • 論語 「唯仁者 能好人 能惡人

    This is a deliberately aenigmatic and provocative challenge to the reader. It has the form of a riddle.