By DONALD DeMARCO
Hendiadys is a figure of speech in which two words are used to intensify the meaning of one thing. It is an ingenious form of cognitive amplification. As a Greek word, hendiadys means “one through two” (hen-dia-dys).
Short and sweet are two words that, when in tandem, give added strength and clarity to the notion of brevity. The words “spic” and “span,” though rarely used separately, when linked together emphasize more effectively the notion of clean. Sad and lonely, high and mighty, peace and quiet, rant and rave, safe and sound, rough and ready, fear and trembling, mirth and merriment, free and easy, fun and frolic, along with innumerable other examples, employ two words to give added intensity the meaning of a single concept. If we summon a sleepyhead to “rise,” our command is far weaker than when we bid him to “rise and shine,” though the simple meaning, get up, remains the same. Hendiadys is a paradox. It makes more out of one by enlisting two.
If you tear a dollar bill in half, you will have two pieces that in themselves have no value. But if you join them together, you reconstitute a bill that has the value of one dollar. The two pieces complement each other, just as, in hendiadys, two words complement and strengthen each other to elucidate an integral meaning. Neither the violin nor the bow can produce music by itself. But together they can produce music of infinite variety. Complementarity can mean completeness. It is hendiadys in action. “I-Thou” is far richer than the mere addition of an “I” to a “you.” Hendiadys transcends mathematics by making one larger than two.
God’s manner of creation indicates His affection for hendiadys. He created the heavens and the earth, separated the light from darkness, and distinguished day from night.
This affection for hendiadys is also evident in His creation of the human being. By creating man and woman as a complementary pair, He gave added meaning to the notion of human. Neither a man by himself, nor a woman by herself, conveys the notion of love for another. The full meaning of a human being, then, is completed only when a man and a woman stand before each other and are united in love. In the words of Alice von Hildebrand, “The plenitude of human nature is found only in the unity of male and female.”
This special complementarity is also needed in order to evince another attribute of God, namely the particular fashion in which He creates. God creates creatively, which means that He endows His creatures with the ability to participate in His creativity through procreation. Non-complementary pairs, such as a man and a man or a woman and a woman, cannot procreate and therefore do not image God’s particular style of creativity.
We all share in God’s enthusiasm for complementarity and hendiadys. And we share it in so many ways on a daily basis. We take pleasure in matching the cup with the saucer, aligning the salt next to the pepper, arranging a wine and cheese party, mating the napkin to the dinner plate, combining beer with pretzels, pairing the soup to the sandwich, or finding the right tie to go with the shirt. Sympathy pours forth more efficaciously when it is companioned with tea. “Ham and eggs” spells breakfast more decisively than ham or eggs alone. And, as the song says, love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage.
Complementarity is often derided because it seems to indicate that one person needs another in order to be complete. Thus, it creates the impression that one person alone is in a weakened state. But the truth of the matter is that complementarity, just as hendiadys amplifies one through two, rescues a person from solitude and makes him more complete.
Complementarity does not weaken, it uplifts. It also underscores the fundamental significance of love and creativity. The counterpart to “It is not good for man to be alone” is that complementarity is good for man since it helps to make him whole.
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(Donald DeMarco is a senior fellow of Human Life International. He is professor emeritus at St. Jerome’s University in Waterloo, Ontario, and an adjunct professor at Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Cromwell, Conn., and a regular columnist for St. Austin Review. Some of his recent writings may be found at Human Life International’s Truth & Charity Forum.)
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