lyre

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English lire,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French lire, now lyre,^[5][6][7][8] and directly borrowed from Latin lyra,^[8] from Ancient Greek λύρα (lúrā),^[5][6][8][2] a word of foreign and uncertain origin.^[6][8] The Anglo-Norman word, meaning a lyre, is recorded from 1155.^[9] Etymonline notes that the instrument itself is said to have come from Egypt, though it became the national instrument of ancient Greece.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A stringed instrument of the harp kind, used by the Greeks to accompany song and recitation: before 1200 in Barnhart and about 1275 in the OED, both in Laȝamon's Brut.^[8][5] Etymonline dates it to about 1200.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) defined it as a harp, the instrument to which poets were said to sing.^[10] From 1684, in Dryden, it was used figuratively, chiefly as the symbol of lyric poetry,^[5] a use Etymonline places especially in the 18th and 19th centuries.^[6] The constellation Lyra has its English name from the 1650s,^[6] and lyre was used for it from 1868.^[5] The word was also used in anatomy from 1900,^[5] and for a grade of isinglass from 1856.^[5] The Australian lyrebird (1853) is named from the shape of its tail.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1275 – a Greek stringed instrument, in Laȝamon's Brut.^[5][8]
• 1684 – figurative, the symbol of lyric poetry, in Dryden.^[5]
• 1853 – lyrebird.^[6]
• 1856 – a grade of isinglass.^[5]
• 1868 – the constellation Lyra.^[5]
• 1900 – in anatomy.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. An ancient Greek stringed instrument with two curved arms joined by a crossbar, plucked with a plectrum and used to accompany song.^[11][4][5]
2. Any instrument of similar design.^[11][4]
3. A medieval bowed instrument of the violin family.^[11]
4. A music lyre.^[4]
5. The constellation Lyra.^[4][5]
6. (figurative) Lyric poetry, or poetic inspiration.^[5][6]

Word family

• lyriform
• lyrism
• lyrist
• lyre snake

Related words

• Lyra
• lyrate
• lyrebird
• lyric
• lyrical

Usage notes

In Orkney and Shetland lyre is a name for the Manx shearwater, a separate word borrowed from Danish, recorded from 1654.^[5][12] Dictionary.com notes that lyre and liar sound alike.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)