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paranomasia Punning, playing with words. [Gk. "word-shunting"] paronomasia (păr'ə-nō-mā'zhə, -zhē-ə) n. Word play; punning. A pun. [Latin, from Greek paronomasiā, from paronomazein, to call by a different name : para-, beside; see para1 + onomazein, to name; see onomastic.] (Both spellings are found.) Not only the Greeks, but the writers of the Bible and the ancient Syriacs and Romans and everybody else who scratched out text played with their words with giddy delight. This form of pun relies upon words having the same sound. (Yes, there are other types of puns.) I don't think it is possible to pun in hieroglyphics... but given their love of games, I wouldn't be surprised if the spoken language wasn't full of the richness of mangled meanings. Carolly