Etymologically
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lyricus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈly.rɪ.kʊs][1]

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
  • 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