Etymologically
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parodia

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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]

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.