elegi

Forms

elegī m pl (genitive elegōrum); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἔλεγος (élegos), used in the plural as ἔλεγοι (élegoi).^[2][3][1][4] Köbler, after Frisk, takes the Greek word for a lament to be probably of Asia Minor origin.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short and the TLL quote it first from the poets of the 1st century BC, Tibullus, Propertius and Horace;^[3][6] Horace writes neu miserābilēs decantēs elegōs, “and do not keep chanting piteous elegies”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It names verses in elegiac couplets, a hexameter joined to a pentameter, above all love poems and laments.^[2][6] Horace says scholars still argue over who first put out short elegies.^[6] Ovid bids his unwarlike elegies farewell and asks whether they can bear so great a subject, which needs the heroic foot;^[6] Martial too sets them against epic.^[6] Terentianus Maurus says the name was given because this ending suits sad measures, and a scholiast on Horace explains them as verses made about misery.^[6] Sidonius distinguishes elegi echoici from elegi recurrentes.^[7] The TLL notes that the singular also occurs.^[6]

Timeline

• 1st century BC – Tibullus, Propertius and Horace.^[3][6]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid bids farewell to his elegies.^[6][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus in the Dialogus.^[3][6][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (plural) elegiac verses, an elegy, especially love poetry or lament.^[2][3][1][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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