comoedia

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [koːˈmoe̯.di.a]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [koˈmɛː.di.a]^[1]

Forms

cōmoedia f (genitive cōmoediae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek κωμῳδία (kōmōidía, “comedy”), related to κῶμος (kômos, “revel”).^[2][1][3][4] Varro discusses its origin from ⟨κῶμος⟩.^[5] Plautus has the old genitive ⟨cōmoediāī⟩, and Varro the spelling ⟨cōmōdia⟩.^[6][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Plautus, of a comedy.^[2] Köbler's first source is Cicero; he dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It meant a comedy, a play, as in Plautus and Terence's cōmoediam facere “to write a comedy”.^[2][7] In Cicero it meant comedy as a genre, vetus cōmoedia the Old Attic comedy and media cōmoedia the Middle comedy.^[2][7]

British Medieval Latin used it for a comedy, and by confusion with comedere “to eat” for banquet songs.^[8] It survives in Italian commedia and French comédie, and Old French comedie gave English comedy in the late 14th century, “a narrative with a happy ending”.^[1][4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a comedy.^[2][3]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses cōmoediam facere.^[7][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the Old Comedy.^[2][3]
• late 14th century – English comedy is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Comedy as a genre, vetus cōmoedia, the Old Comedy.^[2]
2. A comedy, a comic play.^[2]

Word family

• cōmoedicus
• tragicōmoedia

Related words

• tragoedia
• English comedy

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ 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