An Outline of the Metres in the Pāḷi Canon

An Outline of the Metres in the Pāḷi Canon - 47
Four: Index and Glossary
(Roman order of letters)
Addhasamavutta (ardhasamavṛtta)
a metre having two dissimilar lines repeated to make up a verse e.g.
Siloka, Vetālīya, see also 2.20ff
akkharacchandas (akṣaracchandas), see vaṇṇacchandas
anacrusis
one or two extra syllables at the beginning of a line, before the metre
proper begins.
anceps ⏓
indicates that the syllable may be heavy or light in the stated
position. In the Pāḷi canonical period the last syllable in a line is
nearly always considered to be heavy, and sometimes the first
syllable too, see pādādigaru & pādantagaru.
Anuṭṭhubha (Anuṣṭubh), see 2.3ff
1) this is a Vedic metre originally having a samavutta structure
⏓−⏓−¦⏑−⏑× (x 4). Over time variations from this basic
pattern started to emerge, which eventually gave rise to a new
metre having two dissimilar lines, the Siloka. As this was a
gradual evolution at which point we should declare the metre to
have gone over from Anuṭṭhubha to Siloka is a moot point. But
the general position is that in the Pāḷi canonical period we find
that we are dealing with the new metre, which has an
Addhasamavutta structure (see the Appendix for more details).
2) The name is also used when describing a variation that occurs
in the odd lines of Siloka metre, which shows the same structure
as the line illustrated above, and which is therefore the same as
the Siloka even line.
3) Also used as a generic name applied to any metre having 8
syllables to the line.