8 VALÉRIE KABERGS – HANS AUSLOOS Casanowicz Cherry V.K. umbrella term for all umbrella term for: one particular way to kinds of figures of “visual paronomasia” constitute a Hebrew sound “oral paronomasia” wordplay: a combi- (alliteration, asso- (= Casanowicz’s under- nation of words shar- nance, other kinds of standing of paronomasia) ing a similar sound, paronomasia rhyme, wordplay) “sense paronomasia”20 but having a different meaning (cf. the most common classical definition) one specific type of synonym for Cherry’s umbrella term for a paronomasia: i.e. a use of the concept (combination of) sense-paronomasia paronomasia word(s) that play(s) which consists of sim- on both sound and wordplay ilar-sounding words meaning also incorporating a play on meaning II. Towards A Definition Against the backdrop of the above remarks about the termino- logical confusion that is present in studies on wordplay since (and also before) Casanowicz, we now aim at proposing our own en- compassing definition of Hebrew wordplay. Two elements seem to be especially important when speaking about Hebrew wordplay. Constitutive for Hebrew wordplay is its ambiguous nature within a specific literary context (1). This ambiguity is created by means of a play between both the sound and the meaning of words (2), which is moreover characteristic of the Hebrew language. 20 According to Cherry, “sense paronomasia” is a particular type of paro- nomasia that creates ambiguity on the basis of lexical choices. The sound of words does not play any role in this type. Cf. CHERRY, Paronomasia and Pro- per Names in the Old Testament, 20-34. It has to be remarked that Casano- wicz uses the term “sense-paronomasia” in a different way, i.e. as referring to a play on both the sound (already implicated in his use of the term “paro- nomasia”) and meaning (“sense”).