Rigvedic Formulas and Meter

The book starts with a rundown on Rigvedic meter including a discussion of irregularities and the importance of word-boundary patterns, with a brief digression on clitics. This is followed by a discussion of formulas, formulaic diction and various definitions of the concept of formula in oral-poetic traditions, resulting in the relativistic but more realistic definition ”a formula is a slice of a formulaic continuum”, i.e. a razor-sharp definition is in conflict with the material it is supposed to define.

The metrical facts show that irregular dimeters in the Rigveda are more closely related to regular trimeters than to regular dimeters. Still, Bloomfield’s extraction hypothesis does not provide a sufficient methodological basis for explaining the irregular dimeters, nor does the laryngealist approch. A selection of irregular dimeter lines are examined with reference to the formulaic continua and associative networks surrounding them, and an attempt is made to show how these continua helped trigger the use of certain words in certain metrical positions.