μελῳδία

Forms

μελῳδῐ́ᾱ (melōidíā) f (genitive μελῳδῐ́ᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek μελῳδός (melōidós, “singing, musical”) + -ία (-ía).^[1][2][3] The adjective μελῳδός (melōidós) is a compound of μέλος (mélos, “song, tune”) and ᾠδή (ōidḗ, “song”), the contracted form of ἀοιδή (aoidḗ).^[1][3][4]

Through Late Latin melōdia the word passed into the languages of Europe: French mélodie, German Melodie and, through Old French, the English word melody.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first recorded use is in Euripides' Rhesus (5th century BC), where it means singing or chanting.^[6][2][7][8]

Semantic evolution

Plato uses it for choral song and chant, for the song with which mothers lull their children to sleep, and in the Laws for lyric poetry, whose composers he calls poets of μελῳδία.^[6][2][9] He also sets singing against dancing.^[9] Aristotle discusses it in the Politics, and by the 1st century BC Philodemus uses it of music in general.^[6][2] In the Philopatris among Lucian's works it is the song of birds.^[2] The Septuagint has it once, in the Fourth Book of Maccabees, for a song.^[10] The Byzantine lexicon of Zonaras glosses it as sweetness of voice.^[11]

In medieval vernacular Greek it was a sweet song or a chant in church, and also the art of music and a musical composition.^[12] Modern Greek keeps it as the learned word μελωδία (melodía), whose sense of a melody, a tuneful sequence of notes, follows French mélodie.^[13]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – The Rhesus uses it of singing.^[6][7][8]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for choral song, lullabies and lyric poetry.^[6][2][9][8]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle writes about it in the Politics.^[2][7][8]
• 1st century BC – Philodemus uses it of music in general.^[6][8]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular texts use μελωδία (melodía) and μελωδιά (melodiá) for a sweet song, a chant and a musical composition.^[12]
• c. 1300 – English borrows melody through Old French and Late Latin.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Singing, chanting.^[6][9]
2. A choral song or chant; a lullaby.^[6][2]
3. Lyric poetry; a lyric poem.^[9][2][6]
4. A melody or tune; music in general.^[9][6]
5. The song of birds.^[2]

Related words

• μέλος (mélos)
• ᾠδή (ōidḗ)
• Latin melodia
• English melody

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
3. ^ a b Μανδουλίδης, Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της αρχαίας ελληνικής
4. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
9. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
10. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
11. ^ Pseudo-Zonaras, Lexicon, ed. Johann August Heinrich Tittmann (1808), Iohannis Zonarae Lexicon, Leipzig: Crusius
12. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
13. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki