From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Adverb meaning "from the beginning"
This article is about literary use of the phrase. For 1917 painting by Paul Klee, see
Ab ovo (painting)
. For biological alternative to spontaneous generation, see
Omne vivum ex ovo
.
Leda and the Swan
, a painting depicting Helen's unconventional birth, by
Cesare da Sesto
(c. 1506–1510,
Wilton
) after a lost painting by
Leonardo da Vinci
. Helen and
Clytemnestra
are shown emerging from one egg;
Castor and Pollux
from another.
Ab ovo
is
Latin
for "from the beginning, the origin, the
egg
". The term is a reference to one of the twin eggs from which
Helen of Troy was born
. The eggs were laid by
Leda
after
Zeus
, disguised as a swan, either seduced and mated with or raped her, according to different versions. Had
Leda
not laid the egg,
Helen
would not have been born, so
Paris
could not have eloped with her, so there would have been no
Trojan War
.
[1]
In literature
[
edit
]
The
English
literary use of the phrase comes from
Horace
's
Ars Poetica
, where he describes his ideal epic poet as one who "does not begin the Trojan War from the double egg" (
nec gemino bellum Troianum orditur ab ouo
), the absolute beginning of events, the earliest possible chronological point, but snatches the listener into the middle of things (
in medias res
). This advice is famously rejected in
Laurence Sterne
's novel
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
.
This use is distinct from the longer phrase
ab ovo usque ad mala
(lit. "from the egg to the apples") which appears in Horace's
Satire
1.3. It refers to the course of a Roman meal, which often began with eggs and ended with fruit, and is similar to the American English phrase "
soup to nuts
". Thus
ab ovo
can also be used to mean a complete or entire thing.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Helen of Troy: From Homer to Hollywood. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Chichester, West Sussex, U.K.