6 VALÉRIE KABERGS – HANS AUSLOOS also to alliteration, assonance and other kinds of rhyme. Nevertheless, in later Old Testament studies, one sees that “wordplay” becomes a synonym for “the extended type” of paronomasia as defined by Casanowicz. “Wordplay” therefore becomes an umbrella term not only for different types of wordplay, but equally for all kinds of fig- ures of sound, because the extended definition of paronomasia by Casanowicz included both wordplay as well as other types of figures of sound. The content of Casanowicz’s concept of paronomasia is thereby transferred to the term wordplay. However, this extended definition of paronomasia no longer has anything to do with the most common “classical” definition of paronomasia in ancient rhetoric. Moreover, the description of wordplay in later Old Testament stud- ies has become too extended if we compare it in terms of what Casanowicz calls “wordplay”. Indeed, according to Casanowicz, wordplay is ultimately only one particular type of paronomasia. Besides the problems with regard to the identification of parono- masia and wordplay, the types of sound patterns that Old Testament scholars categorize under the synonymous concepts wordplay/parono- masia are often very diverse. In this respect, Cherry’s dissertation should be mentioned. Although he is fully aware of the various defi- nitions of and terms for Hebrew wordplay, his own definition of word- play/paronomasia has ― on the one side ― no longer anything to do with the proximity of two words that vary only slightly in form but have a different meaning, and ― on the other ― is still more complex and extended than Casanowicz’s concept of paronomasia. According to Cherry, paronomasia/wordplay can be defined as “the deliberate use of a word or combination of words as a rhetorical device designed to create within the hearer (or reader) feelings of ambiguity and cu- riosity. This use is primarily based upon resemblances of sound, but may also include willful exploitation of the meaning or written ap- pearance of these expressions” 17. Like many others, Cherry incor- rectly identifies Casanowicz’s term paronomasia with wordplay so that all figures of sound alike become examples of wordplay. More- 17 Correctly, Cherry himself writes: “This definition expands paronomasia to its broadest sense, thus allowing for the inclusion of rhetorical techniques not exclusively dependent upon audible relationships”. Cf. CHERRY, Paro- nomasia and Proper Names in the Old Testament, 6.