bathous

Bathous is a spelling variant that appears in some English-language texts as an alternative form of bathos, a term from rhetoric that denotes a descent from the sublime to the trivial in literary style. There is no established definition of Bathous as a separate concept in major reference works, and it is not widely used as a standalone term today.

Etymology and meaning: Bathos derives from Greek bathos meaning depth. In criticism, bathos describes an unintended or deliberate shift from elevated to frivolous tone, producing anticlimax. When encountered as bathous, the form generally signals the same semantic field, typically indicating a mismatch between elevated diction or mood and the surrounding material. In practice, it is treated as an orthographic variant rather than a distinct theory.

Usage and scope: In scholarly writing, bathos is used to diagnose passages that overstep emotional or stylistic boundaries, often for humorous or satirical effect. Because Bathous is not standard, its appearance in contemporary criticism is rare and mainly confined to historical texts, bibliographic notes, or discussions of orthographic variation.

Other uses: As a proper noun, Bathous is scarcely attested. If it appears, it is unusual and not recognized as a conventional term or widely acknowledged figure, rather than representing a defined scholarly concept.

See also: Bathos; Anti-climax; Rhetoric.