Etymologically
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tragoedus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [traˈɡoe̯.dʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [traˈd͡ʒɛː.dus][1]

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]

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