lyric

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French lyrique, in Klein's spelling also lirique,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} and in part a direct borrowing of its source, Latin lyricus (“of or for the lyre”),^[2][3][4][6] from Ancient Greek λυρικός (lurikós, “singing to the lyre”),^[7][5] from λύρα (lúra, “lyre”).^[3][7][8][5] Collins and Dictionary.com derive the English word straight from Latin.^[9][10] The noun is taken from the same French word or from lyricum (“a lyric poem”), the neuter of the Latin adjective.^[2][4] Within English it can be analysed as lyre with the suffix -ic.^[2][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Merriam-Webster dates the first known use of the adjective to 1567.^[4] The OED's first record is in Puttenham's Arte of English Poesie (1589), in the sense "of or for the lyre; meant to be sung".^[3][2] The noun appears a little earlier: a lyric poem, before 1586 in Sidney's Apologie for Poetrie,^[3] 1581 in Barnhart, who glosses it as a short poem expressing personal emotion.^[2]

Semantic evolution

For the ancient Greeks the lyre accompanied the singing of songs and the recitation of poetry, and the original sense of the word was "suitable for singing to the lyre or for being set to music".^[11] The noun then became the name of any short poem that was meant to be sung or suggested song, especially one expressing intense personal feeling,^[11][7] and the adjective came to describe such poetry whether or not it was intended to be sung.^[3][6][2] In 1586 Webbe used the lyric for lyric style or verse,^[3] and a lyric could also be a lyric poet between 1594 and 1839.^[3] Southey applied the adjective to people given to song in 1814.^[3] The musical senses are modern: a lyric voice, clear and light and able to sustain long flowing melodies, is recorded from 1856, and lyrics, the words of a popular song, from 1876, in Stainer and Barrett's Dictionary of Musical Terms.^[3][7] A verb lyric, to sing in a lyrical way, was used briefly in the early 18th century.^[3][6]

Timeline

• 1567 – first known use of the adjective.^[4]
• 1581 – noun, a short poem expressing personal emotion.^[2]
• before 1586 – a lyric poem, in Sidney.^[3]
• 1589 – adjective, of or for the lyre, meant to be sung, in Puttenham.^[3][2]
• 1594 – a lyric poet (obsolete by 1839).^[3]
• 1814 – of people, given to song.^[3]
• 1856 – of a singer, light and clear, as in lyric soprano.^[3]
• 1876 – the words of a popular song.^[3][7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of poetry, expressing the writer's own feelings and thoughts, usually in a short songlike form: a lyric poem about her childhood home.^[9][4][3]
2. Having the form and manner of a song; suitable for being set to music and sung.^[9][4]
3. Of music, having songlike qualities; melodic.^[9][4]
4. Of a singing voice, light and clear in tone and suited to long flowing melodies: a lyric tenor.^[9][3]
5. Of or relating to the lyre, or meant to be sung to it, especially in ancient Greece.^[9][4][3]

Noun

1. A short poem of songlike quality, usually expressing personal emotion.^[9][4][3]
2. lyrics: the words of a popular song or a number in a musical: He wrote the lyrics and she wrote the tune.^[9][4][3]

Word family

• lyrically
• lyricalness
• lyrical
• lyricize
• nonlyric
• lyricism
• lyricist

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster