Periphrase
A periphrase (French: une périphrase), <Greek periphrasis, a favorite figure de style of French writers even today, substitutes a longer phrase in place of a more ordinary word. L’astre du jour (“the star of the day”) for “sun” is an example. In standard expository prose it is remarkable that the French prefer periphrase to repeating a person’s name, apparently considering both repetition of the name, and the use of the personal pronoun (the other possibility), too bland. Example: l’aigle de Meaux (“the eagle of Meaux”) for Bossuet.