parody English · revision 39632

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1607, T. Walkington, The Optick Glasse of Humors|origins=grc παρῳδία}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /ˈpæɹədi/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la-lat|parōdia]], found in post-classical Latin from the 4th century and earlier as a Greek word in classical Latin,^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) from [[grc|παρῳδία|tr=parōidía|t=a burlesque song or poem]],^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) made of [[m|grc|παρά|tr=pará|t=beside, parallel to]] (see [[para-]]) and [[m|grc|ᾠδή|tr=ōidḗ|t=song, ode]],^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)^(AHD 2024)^(ODE 2010) a word related to [[m|grc|ἀείδω|tr=aeídō|t=to sing]] and the source of [[ode]].^(MWU 2024)^(AHD 2024) Klein takes it through [[m|fr|parodie]],^(Klein 1966) which the OED records in French only from 1615.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A literary composition that imitates another work, especially one that copies an author's style and themes for comic effect: 1607, in Thomas Walkington's ''The Optick Glasse of Humors''.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024) Barnhart and Etymonline find it earlier, in 1598, in Ben Jonson's ''Every Man in His Humour''.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Johnson (1755) defined a parody as a kind of writing in which an author's words or thoughts are taken and, by a slight change, adapted to a new purpose.^(Johnson 1755) From 1730 the word was used without an article for the genre itself.^(OED 2026) The verb is recorded from 1733, in a letter of Pope;^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024) Barnhart dates it to before 1745 and Etymonline to 1745.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) Its general sense, to imitate someone or something in a mocking way, appears from 1801, in Southey's ''Thalaba''.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) The weakened noun sense, a poor or feeble imitation, a [[travesty]], is recorded from Coleridge (a1834);^(OED 2026)^(HTOED) the Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins dates it to the mid 19th century.^(Cresswell 2021) In music, a parody is a composition that reuses material from another piece, with serious intent.^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1598 – Barnhart's and Etymonline's first date, in Ben Jonson.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1607 – a comic imitation of a literary work.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1730 – parody as a genre.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1733 – verb, to write a parody of.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1781 – verb, intransitive, to compose parodies (now rare).^(OED 2026)

+ * 1801 – verb, to mimic for comic or mocking effect.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)

+ * a1834 – a feeble imitation, a travesty.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A piece of writing, music, film or other work that imitates the style of another work, author or [[genre]] with deliberate exaggeration, for comic effect or in [[ridicule]].^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+ # The writing of such works, as a form of art.^(OED 2026)

+ # Something so badly done that it seems to mock what it should be; a [[travesty]]: ''The hearing was a parody of justice.''^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # (music) A composition that reworks material from another piece, with serious intent.^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To make a parody of a work, an author or a style: ''The sketch parodied a famous detective series.''^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # To imitate someone or something in a mocking way.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[parodic]]

+ * [[parodist]]

+ * [[parodistic]]

+ * [[parodiable]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ode]]

+ * [[prosody]]

+ * [[rhapsody]]

+ * [[travesty]]

+ * [[burlesque]]

+ * [[satire]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Dictionary.com compares ''parody'' with ''burlesque'', ''caricature'' and ''satire'' in its synonym studies.^(Dictionary.com 2016) A different, obsolete ''parody'', a period of time or the end of life, used only by Chaucer and Lydgate, is a variant of [[period]].^(OED 2026) The OED notes that Bailey's dictionary (1730) defined ''parody'' as a popular maxim or proverb, apparently by mistake.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}