The Hyperbaton is a stylistic device. The Hyperbaton describes the conversion of a sentence by separating two terms that are syntactically connected. This separation takes place by inserting additional words or rebuilding the sentence structure. The reworked sentence then deviates strongly from the typical sentence structure and sometimes appears bumpy or untrustworthy.
The word hyperbaton is derived from ancient Greek (ὑπερβατός) and means something transcendent or obscure. The latter translation reveals very well what the hyperbaton has in itself, since reference is made to the adjustment in the sentence structure.
To understand the peculiarities of the hyperbaton, it makes sense to understand the whole thing using a few examples. Let us look at a sentence that is not translated and should be familiar with sound and spelling. The sentence structure is therefore normal.
Example: sentence with normal sentence structure
Kill me, hangman, for I am guilty.
The sequence is clear and apart from the content, the whole thing seems quite useful. Someone says, turning to an executioner who is to kill him, because he is guilty. Let’s change the sentence once and place the “hangman” between the words “kill me”.
Example: Hyperbaton by conversion
Kill me, executioner, for I am guilty.
It is interesting that, through this change in sentence structure, we separated the word pair and thus influenced the reader’s attention. For now there is no longer the verb “killing” in the first place, but the accusative pronoun “me”. The effect is that the “me” gains in importance and comes to the fore. Of course, killing can also be the focus.
Example: Hyperbaton by conversion
Kill me, hangman, for I am guilty.
The hyperbaton can thus draw attention to one of the separate concepts. Similarly, Friedrich Schiller makes a surety when he shows up in the last verses “the friend” who is to die for another. The importance lies in the pronoun, which focuses on the exchange of the two men.
“Me, hangman,” he cries, “kill!
There I am, for which he was born! ”
Note: In the plural, the rhetorical style figure is called Hyperbata, and not, as is often the case, hyperbatons.
The hyperbaton as a sentence conversion
We’ve figured out what it’s all about with the stylistic figure and that it’s a plug-in between matching words or deliberately separating them. Sometimes, however, the hyperbaton is also used as a concept for sentence conversion, which then no longer follows the normal order.
If the concept is understood in this form, it can be regarded as a collective term for anomaly, anakoluth, inversion, or the parenthesis. In principle, this means that any sentence, which differs from the usual, known, general or customary, may be referred to as hyperbaton, if only in the widest sense. Let us look at an example.
Example: inversion as hyperbaton
In his arms the child was dead.
In this case, only the usual sentence structure is changed over and no syntactic word pair is separated. Furthermore, this verse from Goethe’s “Erlkönig” would be an inversion in the strict sense. This means that the sentence deviates from the usual position.
If we understand the hyperbaton, however, as a general collective label for a change in sentence construction, then of course this example also applies to Goethe’s “Erlkönig”.
Further examples of the hyperbaton
Reconstructions in sentence structure should be obvious to everyone. The style figure, as described at the beginning, is somewhat more difficult to identify, but it should be recognizable.
To emphasize the whole thing a little more clearly, we would like to give you more examples of the hyperbaton. We have placed the “normal” sentence structure always in the first verse line and the converted rhetorical style figure of the hyperbato into the second.
There are enough words exchanged!
The words have changed enough!
When he tears me into the tumult of lion warriors …
If he breaks into the turmoil of Löwenkrieger …
It is [the] mild time of love
It is love mild time.
Short overview: The most important thing about Hyperbaton at a glance
The hyperbaton is, in the narrower sense, the insertion between two words that are syntactically connected. Thereby a set is adjusted.
In a broader sense, however, the stylistic device is often used when sentences generally differ from a conventional sentence structure and therefore also includes similar stylistic figures.
