to make elegiac couplets, used in Greek for elegies and epigrams, and, especially in Latin, for love poetry.

The name dactylic is derived from Greek ???????? , "finger", referring to the basic rhythm of one long and two short syllables (resembling the long and two short bones of a finger). Hexameter comes from Greek ?? , "six", because the line consists of six feet. The first five feet contain either a dactyl