AMPHIBOLOGY, or Amphibolousness, in Grammar, a Fault in Language, whereby it is rendered obscure, and liable to be understood in a double Sense. Amphibology is chiefly used in respect of a Phrase; as Equivoque is in respect of a Word. See EQUIVOQUE, and EQUIVOCATION. Of this kind was that Answer which Pyrrhus received from the Oracle; Aio te, Aeacida, Romanos vincere posse: Where the Amphibology consists in this, that the Words te and Romanos, may either of them precede, or either of them follow the Words posse vincere, indifferently. See ORACLE. The English Language usually speaks in a more natural manner, and is not capable of any Amphibologies of this kind: nor is it so liable to Amphibologies in the Articles, as the French and most modern Tongues. See CONSTRUCTION, ENGLISH, ARTICLE, &c. The Word comes from the Greek, αμφίβολος, ambiguous, and λόγος, Discourse.
ÆOLIC, or Aeolian, in Grammar, the name of one of the five Dialects of the Greek Tongue. See GREEK, and DIALECT. It was first used in Boeotia; whence it passed into Lesvos, and was that which Sappho and Alcaeus wrote in. The Aeolic Dialect throws out all the sharp, harsh Accents; and agrees in so many things with the Doric Dialect, that the two are usually confounded together. See DORIC.