lyricus

Forms

lyricus (feminine lyrica, neuter lyricum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek λυρικός (lurikós, “of or for the lyre”),^[2][3][1] from λύρα (lúra, “lyre”).^[4][1] Köbler calls the Greek word for the lyre a technical loanword from the Mediterranean area.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Secure examples begin with Horace and Ovid;^[5] Horace has lyricī vātēs, lyric bards.^[3][6] Cicero, in the Orator, still writes the Greek word in Greek letters for the poets the Greeks call lyric.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

The adjective means “of the lyre” and then “lyric” of poems and poets: Ovid speaks of the sounds of the lyre and calls Anacreon the lyric old man, and Statius calls Pindar the ruler of the lyric band.^[3] As a noun the masculine, usually plural, means the lyric poets, from Seneca and Petronius on;^[2] Quintilian calls Pindar the chief of the lyric poets.^[2] The neuter plural names lyric poems in Tacitus and Pliny the Younger.^[2]

Late writers use the singular noun of single poets such as Bacchylides and Stesichorus.^[6] In medieval British sources it keeps the sense “lyric” and also means pleasant to the ear, sweet.^[7] English lyric came through French in the 1580s.^[8]

Timeline

• 65–8 BC – Horace speaks of lyric bards.^[3][4]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of the sounds of the lyre and of Anacreon.^[3][4]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses the plural noun for lyric poets.^[2][4]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian calls Pindar the chief of the lyric poets.^[2][4]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses the neuter plural for lyric poetry.^[2][4]
• c. 431–486 AD – Sidonius uses the singular noun for a lyric poet.^[3][4]
• 1580s – English borrows lyric through French.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or belonging to the lyre.^[2][3]
2. Of poems and poets: lyric.^[2][3]
3. (Medieval Latin) Pleasing to the ear, sweet.^[7]

Noun

1. (masculine, chiefly plural) A lyric poet.^[2][3]
2. (neuter plural) Lyric poetry, lyric poems.^[2][3]

Word family

• lyrica

Related words

• lyra
• lyricen
• lyristēs

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b 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
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com