προσῳδία

Forms

προσῳδῐ́ᾱ (prosōidíā) f (genitive προσῳδῐ́ᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

Bailly and the CGL derive it from the adjective from Ancient Greek προσῳδός (prosōidós, “singing in accord, harmonious”), itself made from ᾠδή (ōidḗ, “song”).^[2][3][4] Wiktionary analyses it directly as from Ancient Greek πρός (prós, “to”) + ᾠδή (ōidḗ, “song”) + -ία (-íā), and Babiniotis compares the parallel formations παρῳδία (parōidía) and μελῳδία (melōidía).^[1][5] Etymonline renders the literal sense as “a singing in addition to”.^[6]

Latin prosodia was borrowed from it,^[7] and English prosody (late 15th century) comes from the Latin word.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records use it in music: the sophist Critias has it of a song sung to an instrument, and the later lexica explain it as a song sung to the lyre.^[4][2] A fragment of Aeschylus uses it in the sense of an address or a manner of speaking to someone.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

Plato applied the word to speech: in the Republic it is the rise and fall in pitch of the speaking voice.^[4][3] Aristotle used it for the pitch on which a syllable is pronounced, that is, the word accent, in the Sophistical Refutations and the Poetics.^[4][3]

The grammarians made it a technical term: Dionysius Thrax counted three accents, grave, acute and circumflex, and taught that a text must be read according to its prosody;^[4] Herodian wrote a work on general prosody.^[4] Later the term was widened to every feature of pronunciation that ordinary writing left out: Sextus Empiricus reports that the grammarians counted length, shortness and the two breathings as prosodies besides the three accents.^[4] In Choeroboscus it names the written marks of accent, quantity and breathing themselves.^[4]

Medieval vernacular Greek kept the word with changed meanings.^[8] Modern Greek προσωδία (prosodía) is a learned revival: in metrics it is the distinction of long and short syllables, and in linguistics it took the sense of French intonation.^[9]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – A fragment of Aeschylus uses it of an address.^[4][3][10]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it of the variations in pitch of the speaking voice.^[4][11][10]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of the pitch accent of a syllable.^[4][3][10]
• 2nd–1st century BC – Dionysius Thrax prescribes reading according to the accents.^[4][10]
• 2nd century AD – Herodian writes a treatise on general prosody.^[4][10]
• 2nd–3rd century AD – Sextus Empiricus reports that grammarians include length and breathing among the prosodies.^[4][10]
• 8th–9th century AD – Choeroboscus uses it of the written accent, length and breathing marks.^[4][10]
• Late 15th century – English prosody is first recorded, from Latin.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A song sung to instrumental music.^[4][2]
2. An address, a manner of speaking to someone.^[4][3]
3. Variation in pitch of the speaking voice; intonation.^[4][3]
4. (grammar) The pitch on which a syllable is pronounced, the accent.^[4][2]
5. (grammar) Any feature of pronunciation not normally written, such as length or breathing.^[4][2]
6. (grammar) A written mark of accent, length or breathing.^[4]

Related words

• Latin prosodia
• English prosody

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
8. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ a b c d e f g Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
11. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux