exametron

Middle English

Etymology

Probably borrowed from latin Latin hexameter.

Noun

exametron

1. (hapax) hexameter
   • 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Monkes Prologue”, in The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], →OCLC; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, →OCLC, folio lxxxix, verso, column 2:

     And they ben vercifyed comenly
     Of syxe fete, whiche men [clepe] exametron
     In prose eke ben endyted many on
     And in metre, many a sondry wyse
     Lo, this ought ynough to suffyse

     And they have been vercified beautifully in metres of six feet, which men call hexameter. In prose also many have been written, and in meter, many ways. Lo! this ought to be enough to suffice.