Etymologically
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rhapsodia

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Forms

rhapsōdia f (genitive rhapsōdiae); first declension[1][2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ῥαψῳδία (rhapsōidía, “recitation of epic poetry”).[1][3][2] The Greek word comes from ῥαψῳδός (rhapsōidós, “reciter of epic poems”), a compound of the stem of ῥάπτω (rháptō, “to stitch, sew”) and ᾠδή (ōidḗ, “song”).[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cornelius Nepos uses it in his life of Dion, where secunda rhapsodia is the second book of the Iliad.[2][6][5]

Semantic evolution

The OLD defines it as a part of an epic poem fit to be recited at one sitting, such as a book of the Iliad or the Odyssey.[1] Ulpian uses it in the Digest,[7] and VOLI glosses it more generally as a canto or section of a poem.[8] English took it over as rhapsody in the 1540s, through French, first meaning an epic poem or a book of one.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 100–24 BC – Cornelius Nepos speaks of the second rhapsodia of the Iliad.[2][5]
  • before 223 AD – Ulpian uses it in a passage of the Digest.[7][5]
  • 1540s – Borrowed into English, through French, as rhapsody.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A rhapsody: a part of an epic poem suited for recitation at one time, such as a book of Homer.[1][2][9]
  2. A canto or section of a poem.[8][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
  9. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.