Dactyl (metric)


The dactyl is like a finger, because it has a long syllable followed by two short syllables.

A dactyl (from Latin dactylus, and this from Greek δάκτυλος, dáktylos, "finger"), in the Greco-Roman metric, is a foot composed of a long syllable followed by two short ones.It is the base of the verse called dactylic hexameter , used in the epic and in religious poetry (for example in the oracles). Possibly its origin is pre-Hellenic.

The name comes from the analogy between the three phalanges of the finger with the three syllables of the foot.

In Spanish literature, acryl rhythmic foot is also called dactyl, which, unlike the original classic, is not based on quantity, but on tone: it consists of a tonic syllable followed by two unstressed syllables. It has been used in different types of verses, such as decasílabos, hexadecasílabos, heptadecasílabos and bidecasílabos.



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