citharoedus Latin · revision 34272

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=Rhetorica ad Herennium}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''citharoedus''' ''m'' (genitive citharoedī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|κιθαρῳδός|tr=kitharōidós|t=one who sings to the cithara]],^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Saalfeld 1874)^(Wiktionary) a compound of [[m|grc|κιθάρα|tr=kithára|t=lyre]] and [[m|grc|ἀοιδός|tr=aoidós|t=singer]], the latter from [[m|grc|ἀείδω|tr=aeídō|t=to sing]].^(Wiktionary) Köbler connects the Greek verb with the root [[ine-pro|*au̯eid-|t=to sing]] and calls the further origin of the name of the instrument unclear.^(Köbler 2010) The Greek word for “singer” also stands in the Latin borrowings [[m|la|auloedus]] and [[m|la|cōmoedus]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLL's first citation is from the ''Rhetorica ad Herennium'', which describes a ''citharoedus'' who comes forward splendidly dressed, in a gilded robe and a purple cloak, wearing a gold crown set with gems.^(TLL) Köbler dates it from Cicero,^(Köbler 2010) who repeats a saying that those who could not become ''citharoedi'' become ''auloedi''.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It names a musician who sang to his own accompaniment on the cithara, as distinct from the [[citharista]], who only played.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Varro quotes the proverb ''non omnes qui habent citharam sunt citharoedi'', “not everyone who owns a cithara is a citharode”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)^(Gaffiot 2016) Horace says that a citharode who always goes wrong on the same string is laughed at, and Quintilian describes how such performers attend at once to memory, voice and both hands.^(TLL) Suetonius uses it again and again in his Life of Nero, and Martial names it as a profession that pays.^(TLL) An inscription has the feminine [[citharoeda]].^(Lewis & Short 1879) In Ecclesiastical Latin it is a harpist,^(Stelten 1995) and medieval writers in Britain use it of a harper: Ælfric glosses it with Old English ''hearpere'', and a man called ''citharoedus'' in a 1258 account appears there also as ''le Harpur''.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in the ''Pro Murena'' and the ''De oratore''.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro quotes the proverb about owning a cithara.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace uses it in the ''Ars poetica''.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it in his Life of Nero.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 390–406 AD – The Vulgate has it in the Apocalypse.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1258 – A British account names Galfridus ''citharoedus'', also called ''le Harpur''.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|citharode]], a musician who sings to his own accompaniment on the [[m|en|cithara]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin, Medieval Latin)'' A [[m|en|harper]], [[m|en|harpist]].^(Stelten 1995)^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[citharoeda]]

+ * [[citharoedicus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[cithara]]

+ * [[citharista]]

+ * [[auloedus]]

+ * [[cōmoedus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}