ῥαψῳδία

Forms

ῥᾰψῳδῐ́ᾱ (rhapsōidíā) f (genitive ῥᾰψῳδῐ́ᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek ῥαψῳδός (rhapsōidós, “rhapsode”) with the suffix -ία (-íā).^[2][3][4] The rhapsode, the performer of epic poems, takes his name from a phrase meaning “to stitch a song together”, from ῥάπτω (rháptō, “to stitch, sew”) and ᾠδή (ōidḗ, “song”).^[2][3][5] Beekes takes this as a reference to the unbroken run of epic verses, as opposed to the strophes of lyric, and compares the phrase in a fragment of Hesiod and Pindar's “singers of stitched verses”.^[2][3] Chantraine finds that analysis doubtful in detail and prefers the general sense “one who composes poems”.^[2][3]

Ancient grammarians had other ideas: Dionysius Thrax explains the word as if it were a “song with a staff” (ῥάβδος (rhábdos) “staff”), because rhapsodes went about with a laurel staff when they recited Homer.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plato is the first to use it, in the Ion and the Timaeus, for the recitation of epic poetry by a rhapsode, a performance with prizes at festivals.^[7][8][9]

Semantic evolution

In Plato it is the recitation of epic and, by extension, of poetry in general, and also epic composition as opposed to lyric sung to the lyre;^[7][9] Aristotle uses it for the rhapsode's art and, in the Poetics, for a poem composed in several metres.^[9][7] From the Hellenistic period it named a section of an epic fit to be recited at one time, especially one of the twenty-four books of the Iliad and the Odyssey, as in Plutarch and Lucian.^[7][4][10] Plutarch also uses it scornfully of stale, long-winded talk, and the Atticist lexica gloss it as idle chatter.^[7][11][12]

Latin took it as rhapsodia.^[13] English rhapsody (1540s), from French, first meant an epic poem or one of its books.^[14] Modern Greek ραψωδία (rapsodía) is learned: it names each book of the Homeric poems, and it is also a musical form, a sense taken from French rhapsodie.^[10]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it of the recitation of epic and of epic poetry.^[7][8][15]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of the rhapsode's art and of a poem in mixed metres.^[9][7][15]
• 2nd–1st century BC – Dionysius Thrax defines it as part of a poem with a subject of its own and explains its name.^[11][6][15]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it of a book of the Homeric poems and, scornfully, of stale talk.^[7][15]
• 2nd century AD – Lucian uses it of a book of Homer.^[7][15]
• 1540s – English takes rhapsody from French.^[14]
• Modern Greek – The learned ραψωδία (rapsodía) names a book of Homer and a musical form.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The recitation of epic poetry by a rhapsode.^[7][9]
2. The rhapsode's art.^[9]
3. Epic composition, as opposed to lyric; generally, a poem.^[7][9]
4. A part of an epic poem recited at one time, a book of the Iliad or the Odyssey.^[7][4][16]
5. (contemptuous) A long tedious story, rigmarole.^[7][11][12]

Related words

• ῥαψῳδός (rhapsōidós)
• ῥάπτω (rháptō)
• ᾠδή (ōidḗ)
• Latin rhapsodia
• English rhapsody

Usage notes

Zonaras defines it as a section of a poem with a small incident of its own, and illustrates it with the subjects of the first three books of the Iliad: Achilles' wrath, the deceitful dream and the duel of Paris and Menelaus.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
4. ^ a b c Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
5. ^ Βικιλεξικό, the Greek Wiktionary, https://el.wiktionary.org
6. ^ a b Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
10. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ a b c Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
12. ^ a b Lexica Segueriana, in Immanuel Bekker, ed. (1814), Anecdota Graeca I, Berlin: Nauck
13. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
14. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
15. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
16. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
17. ^ Pseudo-Zonaras, Lexicon, ed. Johann August Heinrich Tittmann (1808), Iohannis Zonarae Lexicon, Leipzig: Crusius