THRENODY

[Dr. Goodword]

• threnody •

Pronunciation: thre-nê-dee • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: A lament, dirge, or requiem for the dead, possibly a sermon, poem, song, or similar creative work.

Notes: This is an odd little word with a sad meaning but a bit lovelier than its synonyms mentioned in the Meaning. A person who writes or delivers a threnody is a threnodist. Works that contain or resemble a threnody are threnodic. Don’t forget to change the Y to IE before adding the plural suffix: threnodies.

In Play: Since threnodies are laments for the dead, they most often emerge at funerals: "The highlight of the funeral was Barry Moore’s beautiful threnody to the deceased." Keep in mind that threnodies are any kind of creative work written or composed for the dead: "Rusty Horne wrote a poignant threnody for a brass choir that was played at Justin’s wake."

Word History: Today’s Good Word was taken from Greek threnoidia "lamentation", a compound comprising threnos "lament" + oide "song". Oide is the source of English ode and is found in several other borrowings, such as melody (tuneful song), rhapsody (sewing song), parody (secondary song), and tragedy (goat song—don't ask). Threnos comes from an earlier form, dhrein- "murmur, drone", which showed up in Germanic languages as English drone and German dröhnen "to drone". (We will have to thank Jamie Jones for today's Good Word without mentioning it, since threnody is wholly unrelated to our gratitude.)

[sluggo]

Great word Doc, and even more entertaining is the etymology. It's tragic we Capricornians don't get our own though

Everybody liketh peath and threnody, that'th for thure.

[Perry]

I suppose that being a dirge, a chorus of Hey Noddy Noddy wouldn't fit in too well.

[scw1217]

and tragedy (goat song—don't ask)

Okay, I'm going to ask! Goat song??

[Stargzer]

Courtesy of the Online Etymology Dictionary:

tragedy
c.1374, "play or other serious literary work with an unhappy ending," from O.Fr. tragedie (14c.), from L. tragedia "a tragedy," from Gk. tragodia "a dramatic poem or play in formal language and having an unhappy resolution," apparently lit. "goat song," from tragos "goat" + oide "song." The connection may be via satyric drama, from which tragedy later developed, in which actors or singers were dressed in goatskins to represent satyrs. But many other theories have been made (including "singer who competes for a goat as a prize"), and even the "goat" connection is at times questioned. Meaning "any unhappy event, disaster" is from 1509.

[scw1217]

Thanks for answering the question!