Talk:penthemimeral

Comparing "penthemimeral" and the rarer "hephthemimeral," it seems that they refer to five and seven units, respectively. They usually describe the placement of a caesura. The units counted seem to be long feet or the result of their resolution in dactylic hexameter. Thus, a penthemimeral caesura falls after the fifth instance of a long syllable or two short syllables. In practice, this could be - - / - - / - |, - u u / - - / -, or - u u / - u u/ -. Technically u u - or u u u u could also replace either of the first two feet and it would still fit, but neither of those feet would ever appear in dactylic hexameter. Hepthemimeral would then be after 7 such units, as such: - - / - - / - - / - |. Any of the second long syllables could be resolved, as usual.

u is a short syllable - is a long syllable / marks divisions between feet
 * marks a caesura

Source: 2nd year classical languages major; 4 years of experience studying Greek meter