δραματικός

Forms

δρᾱμᾰτῐκός (drāmatikós) m (feminine δρᾱμᾰτῐκή, neuter δρᾱμᾰτῐκόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek δρᾶμα (drâma, “deed; play”) + -τικός (-tikós).^[1][2] The noun δρᾶμα (drâma) is from Ancient Greek δράω (dráō, “to do, act”) with the suffix of result nouns -μα (-ma).^[1]

Latin borrowed the adjective as Latin drāmaticus, the source of the words for “dramatic” in most European languages.^[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Aristotle's Poetics, which says that Homer composed “dramatic imitations”, letting his characters act and speak, and that epic plots should be built dramatically, as in tragedy.^[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Hellenistic and Roman-period critics used the word in two directions.^[5][6] In the analysis of style it meant “in dialogue form”: Dionysius of Halicarnassus speaks of Thucydides turning a narrative into dialogue, and Diogenes Laertius divides Plato's dialogues into dramatic, narrative and mixed.^[5] It also became a term of blame for what belongs on the stage rather than in history: Dionysius rejects a story as full of theatrical absurdity, and Plutarch speaks of the showy, sensational parts of events.^[5][6][4] The adverb, “dramatically, in dialogue form”, appears in Asterius and in the commentator Ammonius.^[5][4]

Through Latin drāmaticus the word passed into the European languages.^[3][1] Modern Greek δραματικός (dramatikós) is a learned word: its sense “of drama” continues the ancient one, while its newer senses, “moving, tense, very serious”, were modelled on French dramatique.^[7]

Timeline

• 4th century BC – Aristotle's Poetics uses it of Homer's dramatic imitations and of plots built as in tragedy.^[4][5]
• 1st century BC – Dionysius of Halicarnassus uses it of what is theatrical and invented, and of dialogue form.^[5][4]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses the neuter for the sensational element in events.^[6][5]
• 3rd century AD – Diogenes Laertius classes some of Plato's dialogues as dramatic.^[5]
• 5th century AD – Ammonius uses the adverb, “in dialogue form”.^[5][4]
• Modern Greek – The learned δραματικός (dramatikós) takes new senses from French.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or like drama, dramatic: of plots and of imitation in which characters act and speak.^[4][6][5]
2. In dialogue form, as opposed to narrative.^[5]
3. (pejorative) theatrical, invented, exaggerated; the neuter as a noun, the sensational element in a story.^[5][6]

Related words

• δρᾶμα (drâma)
• δράω (dráō)
• Latin drāmaticus
• English dramatic

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, online ed., https://www.koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
4. ^ a b c d e f g Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
6. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki