tragoedus

Forms

tragoedus m (genitive tragoedī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek τραγῳδός (tragōidós, “tragic singer”),^[2][1][3] a compound of τράγος (trágos, “he-goat”) and ᾠδή (ōidḗ, “song”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on, in the Poenulus, meaning a tragic actor.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

It is the tragic actor, as opposed to the comic actor, cōmoedus.^[7] Cicero, Horace and Quintilian use it of the tragic actor, and Tacitus pairs it with the singer to the lyre, citharoedus.^[5][7][6] Iuppiter Tragoedus was a statue of Jupiter at Rome, probably named after the street, the vicus Tragoedus, in which it stood;^[2][5][7] Suetonius mentions it.^[2][5][7]

Medieval writers in Britain use it of a tragic actor or poet, a tragedian;^[8] John of Salisbury says Nero surpassed the tragic actors, and Roger Bacon notes the spelling trajedus.^[8] It lives on in Italian tragedo.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it in the Poenulus.^[5][6][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the tragic actor.^[5][4]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius mentions the statue of Iuppiter Tragoedus.^[5][7][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A tragic actor.^[2][5][7]
2. Iuppiter Tragoedus, a statue of Jupiter at Rome.^[2][5]
3. (Medieval Latin) A tragic poet, tragedian.^[8]

Related words

• tragoedia
• cōmoedus
• tragicus

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes the general term āctor and the specific comoedus and tragoedus, the player as a respectable artist, from ludius, the comedian who makes acting a trade, and histrio.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c 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
9. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper