| hysteron proteron |
| Definition: A figure of speech in which the last becomes first. Note: The goal is to focus attention on the more important idea by saying it first. |
| Example: I like the island Manhattan. Smoke on your pipe and put that in.
(From the song America in the play West Side Story; lyrics by Stephen Sondheim) |
| Etymology: In Greek it literally means "the latter (put as) the former" (from the Greek hysteros, latter or second + proteron, former). |
| Oxford English Dictionary: The first OED citation for the word is from 1565: "In these woordes, ‘Take ye: Eate ye: This is my Bodie’, They have founde a Figure called Hysteron Proteron." (Jewel Repl. Harding 476 ) |