citharoedus

Forms

citharoedus m (genitive citharoedī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek κιθαρῳδός (kitharōidós, “one who sings to the cithara”),^[2][3][4][1] a compound of κιθάρα (kithára, “lyre”) and ἀοιδός (aoidós, “singer”), the latter from ἀείδω (aeídō, “to sing”).^[1] Köbler connects the Greek verb with the root Proto-Indo-European *au̯eid- (“to sing”) and calls the further origin of the name of the instrument unclear.^[5] The Greek word for “singer” also stands in the Latin borrowings auloedus and cōmoedus.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL's first citation is from the Rhetorica ad Herennium, which describes a citharoedus who comes forward splendidly dressed, in a gilded robe and a purple cloak, wearing a gold crown set with gems.^[6] Köbler dates it from Cicero,^[5] who repeats a saying that those who could not become citharoedi become auloedi.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It names a musician who sang to his own accompaniment on the cithara, as distinct from the citharista, who only played.^[2][3] Varro quotes the proverb non omnes qui habent citharam sunt citharoedi, “not everyone who owns a cithara is a citharode”.^[3][7][8] Horace says that a citharode who always goes wrong on the same string is laughed at, and Quintilian describes how such performers attend at once to memory, voice and both hands.^[6] Suetonius uses it again and again in his Life of Nero, and Martial names it as a profession that pays.^[6] An inscription has the feminine citharoeda.^[3] In Ecclesiastical Latin it is a harpist,^[9] and medieval writers in Britain use it of a harper: Ælfric glosses it with Old English hearpere, and a man called citharoedus in a 1258 account appears there also as le Harpur.^[10]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in the Pro Murena and the De oratore.^[6][3][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro quotes the proverb about owning a cithara.^[3][5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it in the Ars poetica.^[6][5]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it in his Life of Nero.^[6][5]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate has it in the Apocalypse.^[6][5]
• 1258 – A British account names Galfridus citharoedus, also called le Harpur.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A citharode, a musician who sings to his own accompaniment on the cithara.^[2][3][11]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin, Medieval Latin) A harper, harpist.^[9][10]

Word family

• citharoeda
• citharoedicus

Related words

• cithara
• citharista
• auloedus
• cōmoedus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
5. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
11. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier