dirge

English

Etymology

From Middle English dirige, from Latin dirige (“steer”), from the beginning of the first antiphon in matins for the dead, Dirige, Domine, deus meus, in conspectu tuo viam meam. Doublet of dirige.

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: dûj, IPA^(key): /dɜːdʒ/
• (US) enPR: dûrj, IPA^(key): /dɝdʒ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(r)dʒ

Noun

dirge (plural dirges)

1. A mournful poem or piece of music composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person.
   • c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene ii], lines 8–14, page 153, column 2:

     Therefore our ſometimes Siſter, now our Queen, / Th’ imperiall Ioyntreſſe of this warlike State, / Haue we, as ’twere, with a defeated ioy, / With one Auſpicious, and one Dropping eye, / With mirth in Funerall, and with Dirge in Marriage, / In equall Scale weighing Delight and Dole / Taken to Wife […]

2. (informal) A song or piece of music that is considered too slow, bland or boring.

Synonyms

• lament, requiem, coronach, threnody, elegy

Related terms

• dirgeful

Translations

mournful poem or piece of music

• Afrikaans: treurlied (af)
• Arabic: تَرْنِيمَة جَنَائِزِيَّة‎ f (tarnīma(t) janāʾiziyya)
• Bulgarian: погреба́лна пе́сен f (pogrebálna pésen)
• Catalan: complanta f, plany (ca) m, cant fúnebre m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 輓歌 (zh), 挽歌 (zh) (wǎngē), 哀樂 (zh), 哀乐 (zh) (āiyuè), 哀歌 (zh) (āigē)

• Dutch: lijkzang m, treurzang (nl) m, treurlied (nl) n, rouwzang m
• Finnish: surulaulu, suruvirsi
• French: chant funèbre m
• German: Klagelied (de) n, Trauersang m, Grabsang m
• Greek:

  Ancient: θρῆνος m (thrênos)

• Irish: caoineadh
• Italian: nenia (it) f, lamentazione (it) f, lagna (it) f
• Japanese: 哀歌 (あいか, aika), 弔歌 (ちょうか, chōka)
• Korean: 장송가 (jangsongga), 만가 (ko) (man-ga), 비가 (biga), 조시 (josi), 애가 (ko) (aega)
• Latin: nēnia f, mortuālium n, aelinos m, threnus m
• Maori: apakura, pihe, tūkeka, matatangitangi
• Portuguese: elegia (pt) f, nénia f (Portugal), nênia (pt) f (Brazil)
• Russian: погреба́льная песнь f (pogrebálʹnaja pesnʹ), панихи́да (ru) f (panixída)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: tužaljka (sh), tužbalica (sh), naricaljka (sh), narikača (sh)

• Spanish: canto fúnebre m
• Yiddish: קלאָגליד‎ n (kloglid)

Verb

dirge (third-person singular simple present dirges, present participle dirging, simple past and past participle dirged)

1. To sing dirges

Anagrams

• Ridge, derig, gride, redig, ridge

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Middle English

Noun

dirge

1. Alternative form of dirige