Battologia

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A redundant way of speaking that unnecessarily reiterates the same point in different words
2. A rhetorical style characterized by excessive repetition of ideas or phrases without adding new information
3. A manner of discourse where the same thoughts are repeated in various forms, often leading to verbosity and lack of clarity

Etymology: In ancient Greece, "battologein" meant to stammer or to chatter on, repeating oneself without getting anywhere. Greek speakers may have linked it to the legend of Battus, a founder-king of Cyrene in North Africa, whose name was tied in later tradition to speech difficulty. That connection is a folk association rather than a firmly established derivation, and the Greek verb's own origin is uncertain. The Greek noun passed into Late Latin as "battologia," and English later took it directly from Latin or Greek, probably in the early modern period. Early users described it as a fault of style, a tic of the tongue or pen that circles a point without advancing it. Its close relative "battology" survives in dictionaries too, though "battologia" is the more common form in older writing.

Synonyms: tautology, redundancy, repetition, pleonasm, wordiness

Antonyms: conciseness, brevity, succinctness, clarity, directness