orchestra

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈɔː.kɪs.tɹə/, /ˈɔː.kəs.tɹə/ (UK); /ˈoɹ.kɪs.tɹə/, /ˈoɹ.kəs.tɹə/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin orchēstra (“place in the theatre where the senate sat”),^[2][3][4] from Greek ὀρχήστρα (orkhḗstra, “space where the chorus danced”),^[2][3][5] from orkheîsthai, to dance, with -tra denoting a place,^[3][2] perhaps an intensive of ἔρχομαι (érkhomai), to go, come, though Beekes and others doubt this.^[3][2] Merriam-Webster compares Sanskrit ṛghāyati, he raves.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the ancient Greek theatre, the semicircular space where the chorus performed: 1606, in Holland's translation of Suetonius;^[2][7] about 1600 in Etymonline.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Dancing (1596) is an obsolete sense, the title of a poem.^[7][8] In ancient Rome the orchestra was the place reserved for senators.^[3][4] When it became the place where musicians sat is hard to judge: one quotation suggests it in 1587, but there is no definite use until 1724.^[4][7] The group of musicians itself is first recorded in 1720, in John Gay's correspondence,^[2][3][7] so called from their position relative to the stage.^[3] The part of a theatre in front of the stage, now the stalls, is from 1768, in Sterne.^[2][3][7] Orchestral is from 1811, and orchestrate from 1880.^[2]

Timeline

• 1606 – the chorus area.^[2]
• 1720 – a body of musicians.^[2]
• 1724 – the musicians' place.^[7]
• 1768 – the front seats of a theatre.^[2]
• 1811 – orchestral.^[2]
• 1880 – orchestrate.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A large group of musicians playing together on various instruments, usually strings, woodwind, brass and percussion.
2. The area in a theatre where the musicians sit, in front of and below the stage.
3. (US, Canada) The front seats or the main floor of a theatre; the stalls.
4. In the ancient Greek theatre, the semicircular space where the chorus danced.

Word family

• orchestral
• orchestrally
• orchestrate
• orchestration
• orchestrion
• chamber orchestra
• symphony orchestra

Related words

• chorus

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press