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Origin and history of tragedy

tragedy(n.)

late 14c., tragedie, "grave or dignified literary work with a calamitous or sorrowful ending," from Old French tragedie (14c.), from Latin tragedia "a tragedy," from Greek tragodia "a dramatic poem or play in formal language and having an unhappy resolution," apparently literally "goat song," from tragos "goat, buck" (according to Beekes, etymologically "gnawer, eater," agent noun from tragein "to gnaw, browse; to eat," which he finds to be probably Pre-Greek) + ōidē "song" (see ode). The compound is probably on model of rhapsodos (Beekes; see rhapsody).

The connection with goats may be via satyric drama, from which tragedy later developed, in which actors or singers were dressed in goatskins to represent satyrs. But many other theories have been made (including "singer who competes for a goat as a prize"), and even the "goat" connection is at times questioned.

Tragedye is to seyn a dite of a prosperite for a tyme that endeth in wrecchidnesse. [Chaucer, translation of Boethius, "De Consolatione Philosophiae"]

Originally in English in reference to ancient dramatic pieces or modern poems and tales; in reference to contemporary stage plays by 1530s. As a branch of the dramatic arts, with its own style, from early 15c. The extended meaning "fatal event, calamity, disaster" is from c. 1500.

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to tragedy

ode(n.)

1580s, from French ode (c. 1500), from Late Latin ode "lyric song," from Greek ōidē, an Attic contraction of aoidē "song, ode;" related to aeidein (Attic aidein) "to sing;" aoidos (Attic oidos) "a singer, singing;" aude "voice, tone, sound," probably from a PIE *e-weid-, perhaps from root *wed- "to speak." In classical use, "a poem intended to be sung;" in modern use usually a rhymed lyric, often an address, usually dignified, rarely extending to 150 lines. Related: Odic.

rhapsody(n.)

1540s, "epic poem," also "a book of an epic" (suitable for recitation at one time), from French rhapsodie, from Latin rhapsodia, from Greek rhapsōidia "verse composition, recitation of epic poetry; a book, a lay, a canto," from rhapsōdos "reciter of epic poems," literally "one who stitches or strings songs together," from stem of rhaptein "to stitch, sew, weave" (from PIE root *wer- (2) "to turn, bend") + ōidē "song" (see ode).

According to Beekes, the notion in the Greek word is "originally 'who sews a poem together', referring to the uninterrupted sequence of epic verses as opposed to the strophic compositions of lyrics." William Mure ["Language and Literature of Antient Greece," 1850] writes that the Homeric rhapsōidia "originally applied to the portions of the poems habitually allotted to different performers in the order of recital, afterwards transferred to the twenty-four books, or cantos, into which each work was permanently divided by the Alexandrian grammarians."

The word had various specific or extended senses 16c.-17c., mostly now obsolete or archaic. Among them was "miscellaneous collection, confused mass (of things)," thus "literary work consisting of miscellaneous or disconnected pieces, a rambling composition." This, now obsolete, might be the path of the word to the meaning "an exalted or exaggeratedly enthusiastic expression of sentiment or feeling, speech or writing with more enthusiasm than accuracy or logical connection of ideas" (1630s). The meaning "sprightly musical composition" is recorded by 1850s.

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