λυρικός

Forms

λῠρῐκός (lurikós) m (feminine λῠρῐκή, neuter λῠρῐκόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek λύρα (lúrā, “lyre”) + -ικός (-ikós), so “of the lyre”.^[1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest text with the word in the GLAUx corpus is the Art of Grammar ascribed to Dionysius Thrax.^[4] Philodemus uses it of lyric poetry beside comic and tragic poetry.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The adjective described what belonged to the lyre: Plutarch speaks of the art of lyre-playing, and the Anacreontea of the lyric Muse.^[5][6] It was used of poems composed to be sung to the lyre.^[7] As a noun it meant a lyre-player, in Lucillius and Plutarch, and a lyric poet, in Cicero and Plutarch; the feminine meant lyric poetry.^[5][6][7] The Suda calls Simonides “the lyric poet”.^[8]

It was borrowed as Latin lyricus,^[9][1] which gave French lyrique and English lyric in the 1580s.^[10] Modern Greek λυρικός (lyrikós) is a learned word; its newer senses (“lyrical, expressing feeling”) come from French lyrique, and the “lyric theatre” is the opera.^[11][12]

Timeline

• 2nd century BC – The Art of Grammar ascribed to Dionysius Thrax uses it.^[4][13]
• 1st century BC – Philodemus uses it of lyric poetry, and Cicero of the lyric poets.^[5][13]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it of lyre-playing and of lyric poets.^[5][7][13]
• 1580s – English borrows lyric, through Latin and French.^[10]
• Modern Greek – λυρικός (lyrikós) means “of the lyre” and “lyrical”.^[11][14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or for the lyre.^[5][6]
2. (of poems) Composed to be sung to the lyre, lyric.^[7][5]

Noun

1. A lyre-player, lyrist.^[5][6]
2. A lyric poet.^[5][7]
3. (feminine) Lyric poetry.^[6]

Related words

• λύρα (lúrā)
• Latin lyricus
• English lyric

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
3. ^ Τεγόπουλος, Γ.; Φυτράκης, Ε. (1997), Μείζον Ελληνικό Λεξικό, Athens: Αρμονία
4. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Montanari, Franco (2015), The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek, ed. Madeleine Goh and Chad Schroeder, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ Adler, Ada, ed. (1928–1938), Suidae Lexicon, 5 vols, Leipzig: Teubner
9. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ Πολυλεξικό, in the encyclopedia Επιστήμη και Ζωή, Athens
13. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
14. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος