melodie

Forms

melodie f (plural melodii)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Modern Greek μελωδία (melodía), first recorded in Cantemir.^[2][3][1] MDA2, DEX and DLR add Italian melodia, and MDA2 and DEX also French mélodie.^[4][5][6] The neologism dictionaries give French, Italian and Latin melōdia.^[7][8]

The Greek word continues Ancient Greek μελῳδία (melōidía, “singing, chant”), from μελῳδός (melōidós, “musical”), a compound of μέλος (mélos, “song, tune”) and ᾠδή (ōidḗ, “song”).^[9][1] Through the Late Latin form it passed into the languages of western Europe, French among them in the 12th century.^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică (1705), dated 1704 by MDA2: all the strings struck at once give some sound, „însă vreo melodie tocmită și după pravilele muzicăi alcătuită, nicicum nu se aude” “but no melody, ordered and made up after the rules of music, is heard at all”.^[2][4][6]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was a sequence of tones ordered by rhythm and modulation; by extension the word came to name a composition or song, and Pamfile explains folk cântec as meaning melodie or arie.^[6] Negulici (1848) and Costinescu (1870) define it as the pleasure that comes from a good sequence of sounds, as opposed to harmony.^[11][12] It is used figuratively for any pleasant sound, and informally for a song in general.^[5][1] In prison slang it means a denunciation.^[13]

Timeline

• 1705 – the first record, in Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică.^[2][3]
• 1848 – Negulici defines the word.^[11]
• 1870 – Costinescu contrasts it with harmony.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A melody: a sequence of tones combined by the rules of rhythm and modulation into an expressive whole.^[5][4][1]
2. A musical composition; a song.^[5][4][1]
3. (figurative) A pleasant sound; armonie, musicality.^[5][4]
4. (prison slang) A denunciation.^[13]

Related words

• melodic
• melodios

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. melodie
3. ^ a b Gáldi, Ladislas (1939), Les mots d'origine néo-grecque en roumain à l'époque des Phanariotes, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Egyetemi Nyomda, p. 209
4. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1484
5. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 639
6. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. melodie
7. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
8. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
9. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας, p. 896
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. 257
12. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 84
13. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. melodie