Stichometry

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The practice of counting or measuring the number of lines in a poem or other metrical text
2. A method of analyzing verse by enumerating its lines to determine length or metrical structure
3. The technique of tallying lines in poetry or similar literary works to assess their extent or form

Etymology: Stichometry is the measurement of written texts by counting their lines, which in antiquity meant counting "stichoi," fixed units of verse or prose, and the word itself is a compound built from two Greek elements: "stikhos," meaning "verse" or "row," and "metron," meaning "measure." Medieval Greek scholars joined these with the abstract suffix "-ia" to form "stikhometria," and it passed into Latin and then English with the same sense of measuring by line. The idea behind the word is practical. Ancient scribes and copyists were often paid by the line, and so a count of lines gave a rough way to price a manuscript, check a copy against its exemplar, or catalogue a library. Lists of books sometimes recorded their stichoi alongside their titles, which is why the practice matters to historians of ancient and medieval texts. Because the word is a transparent Greek compound, its meaning has stayed close to its origin. It names a specialised scholarly technique rather than a general idea, and its everyday use is limited to classical studies, palaeography and the history of the book.

Synonyms: verse counting, line counting