parodia

Forms

parōdia f (genitive parōdiae); first declension^[1][2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek παρῳδία (parōidía, “counter-song; burlesque song or poem”).^[3][1][4] The Greek word is formed from παρά (pará, “beside”) and ᾠδή (ōidḗ, “song”).^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Quintilian still writes the word in Greek letters, of verses made up in imitation of well-known lines, which he counts among the aids to wit.^[6] In Latin letters it appears in the 4th century in Donatus' commentary on Terence, who calls a phrase in the Eunuchus a parody of Ennius.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed a term of grammarians and commentators.^[6] Lewis and Short define it as a reply that keeps nearly the same words or turn of phrase as the original,^[3] and the commentary on Cicero's speeches that goes under the name of Asconius uses it of a jibe of Cicero's at the Metelli that echoed a line of Naevius.^[6][3]

Italian parodia comes from the Late Latin word,^[2] and English parody was formed from or in imitation of it in the 1590s.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 35–95 AD – Quintilian uses the Greek word, in Greek letters, for verses modelled on familiar lines.^[6][5]
• c. 310–380 AD – Donatus, commenting on Terence, uses parodia of a phrase echoing Ennius.^[6][2]
• 1590s – English parody is first recorded, from or in imitation of the Latin word.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A parody: lines composed in imitation of another author's verses or words, usually to comic effect.^[6][7][2]

Related words

• English parody

References

1. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
2. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.