Distich - hemistich - stichomythia

The Greek word στίχος (stichos), meaning ‘row’ or ‘line’ and used of, e.g., a file of soldiers, a row of trees, a course of masonry, or a line of verse, is the central root of a number of English technical terms.

In prosody:

• a distich is a poem, stanza or strophe of two lines – for which an alternative word would be couplet. The associated adjective is distichal. For the words for poems, stanzas or strophes of three or more lines, see Greek numerical prefixes for groups.

• a hemistich is a half-line of verse. In some poetic forms each line of verse must be clearly divided into two half-lines (i.e., hemistichs) with a break or caesura between them. See, Alliterative verse.

• stichomythia (pronounced with the stress on the third syllable, IPA: /,stɪ kəʊ 'mɪ θɪ ə/) or stichomythy (pronounced with the stress on the second syllable, IPA: /stɪ 'kɒ mɪ θɪ/) is a form of dialogue in which single lines of verse are spoken in turn by alternate speakers. Stichomythia was common in ancient Greek tragedies and comedies but is also found in English drama. Here, as an example, is a short passage from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, IV i, lines 65-69:

Shylock: I am not bound to please thee with my answer.

Bassanio: Do all men kill the things they do not love?

Shylock: Hates any man the thing he would not kill?

Bassanio: Every offence is not a hate at first.

Shylock: What! woulds’t thou have a serpent sting thee twice?

Other Shakespearean examples are to be found in Richard III, I ii, lines 193-203 and Hamlet III iv, lines 8-14.

• stichometry (pronounced with the stress on the second syllable, IPA: /stɪ 'kɒ mɪ trɪ/) is the practice of writing out a piece of prose in lines of different lengths that correspond to its constituent sense units and so clarify the way in which it should be spoken.

In botany

• the adjective distichous – not distichal (for which see above) - means ‘arranged in two rows’ and is used with reference to the arrangement of leaves on a plant. A plant is distichous if its leaves are arranged in two vertical rows on opposite sides of the stem. (If a plant has three vertical rows of leaves, it is tristichous; and for the appropriate prefixes for plants with a greater number of rows see Greek numerical prefixes for groups.)

In zoology

• the adjective distichous is used to mean ‘divided into two parts’.