τραγικός

Forms

τρᾰγῐκός (tragikós) m (feminine τρᾰγῐκή, neuter τρᾰγῐκόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek τράγος (trágos, “he-goat”) + -ικός (-ikós).^[1][2][3] Babiniotis notes that it took the place of τραγῳδικός (tragōidikós), from τραγῳδός (tragōidós), as κωμικός (kōmikós) did beside κωμῳδικός (kōmōidikós).^[4] Its usual sense, "of tragedy", comes from the link with τραγῳδία (tragōidíā); the sense "of a goat" is found only in later authors and in Plato's pun.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Herodotus has the earliest secure use, of "tragic choruses".^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Attic the word described everything belonging to tragic drama: its poets, choruses, stage, masks and costume.^[3][2] Aristophanes already uses it of a grand, solemn manner, and Plato of a high-flown answer.^[2] Aristotle in the Poetics gives it a critical sense, the effect proper to tragedy, and calls Euripides the most tragic of the poets.^[2][3] Plato's Cratylus plays on the goat in the word when it calls falsehood "rough and tragic", since the goat-like Pan has a double nature.^[2][3]

From Polybius on it also meant pompous or ranting, and of events distressing or pathetic, as if from a play.^[2][3] Hesychius records the proverb "a tragic ape", for people who give themselves airs they do not deserve.^[2]

It was borrowed as Latin tragicus.^[5] Through Latin it passed into the modern European languages, among them French tragique and English tragic.^[4] Modern Greek τραγικός (tragikós) is a learned word, and Triantafyllidis takes its sense "sad, calamitous" as a semantic loan from the French word, but Babiniotis points out that the sense "sad, distressing" is already ancient.^[6][4]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Herodotus speaks of tragic choruses.^[2][3]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses the comparative of a lofty manner, and Plato and Xenophon speak of the tragic stage and costume.^[2][3]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle's Poetics and Rhetoric use it for the effect proper to tragedy.^[2][3]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it of a pompous entrance and of distressing events.^[2][3]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it of goats' horns on a helmet.^[3][2]
• Modern Greek – The learned τραγικός (tragikós) means both "of tragedy" and "calamitous".^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or for tragedy, tragic (of poets, choruses, the stage, actors); as a noun, ἡ τραγική tragedy, οἱ τραγικοί the tragic poets.^[2][3]
2. Having the true effect of tragedy, arousing pity and fear.^[3]
3. Grand, stately; in a bad sense, pompous, ranting.^[2]
4. Distressing, pathetic; as if from a play rather than real life.^[3]
5. Of a goat, goatish (later authors); in Plato, punning on both senses.^[2][3]

Word family

• τραγικῶς (tragikôs)

Related words

• τραγῳδία (tragōidíā)
• τράγος (trágos)
• κωμικός (kōmikós)
• Latin tragicus
• English tragic

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
6. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki