elegy

English

Etymology

From Middle French elegie, from Latin elegīa, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek ἐλεγείᾱ (elegeíā), ellipsis of ἐλεγείᾱ ᾠδή (elegeíā ōidḗ, “an elegiac song”).

Pronunciation

• (General American, Received Pronunciation, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈɛlɪd͡ʒi/
• Hyphenation: el‧e‧gy

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

Noun

elegy (plural elegies)

1. A mournful or plaintive poem; a funeral song; a poem of lamentation. [from early 16th c.]

   funeral elegy

   pastoral elegy

   solemn elegy

   He composed an elegy for his late friend.

2. (music) A composition of mournful character.
3. A classical poem written in elegiac meter

Usage notes

Because the words elegy and eulogy sound and look similar and both concern speeches or poems associated with someone's death and funeral, they are easily confused. A simple key to remembering the difference is that an elegy is chiefly about lamenting whereas a eulogy is chiefly about praising (and eu- = "good").

Synonyms

• See dirge

Coordinate terms

• jeremiad — prose or poem but with more emphasis on bitterness and impending doom
• requiem — a piece of music played at a mass for the dead

Derived terms

• elegiac
• elegiast
• elegiographer
• elegist
• elegize

Translations

mournful or plaintive poem or song

• Arabic: رِثَاء m (riṯāʔ), مَرْثِيَة f (marṯiya)
• Bulgarian: елегия (bg) f (elegija)
• Catalan: elegia (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Hokkien: 哀歌 (ai-ko)

  Mandarin: 挽歌 (zh) (wǎngē) (trad. variant: 輓歌 / 挽歌 (zh) (wǎngē)), 哀歌 (zh) (āigē)

• Czech: žalozpěv m, elegie (cs) f
• Danish: elegi c, klagesang c, sørgedigt n
• Dutch: klaaglied (nl) n
• Esperanto: elegio
• Finnish: suruvirsi, valitusvirsi (fi), elegia (fi)
• French: élégie (fr) f
• Galician: elexía (gl) f
• German: Elegie (de) f
• Greek: ελεγεία (el) (elegeía)

  Ancient: ἐλεγεία (elegeía)

• Hebrew: קִנָּה (he) (kiná)
• Hungarian: elégia (hu)
• Indonesian: elegi (id)
• Irish: marbhna m
• Japanese: 哀歌 (ja) (あいか, aika), 悲歌 (ja) (ひか, hika), エレジー (ja) (erejī)
• Korean: 만가 (ko) (man'ga)
• Ladino: endecha
• Latin: elegīa f, elegī m pl
• Macedonian: еле́гија f (elégija)
• Middle Irish: marbnad f
• Old English: līclēoþ n
• Polish: elegia (pl) f
• Portuguese: elegia (pt) f
• Romanian: elegie (ro) f
• Russian: эле́гия (ru) f (elégija)
• Scottish Gaelic: cumha m, tuireadh m, marbhnach m, marbhrann m
• Serbo-Croatian: narikača (sh) f, žalopojka (sh) f, tužbalica (sh) f, elegija (sh) f
• Spanish: elegía (es) f, endecha (es) f, epicedio (es) m, epiceyo m, nenia f
• Swedish: elegi (sv) c
• Tagalog: elehiya
• Tibetan: སྨྲེ་ངག (smre ngag), གདུང་དབྱངས (gdung dbyangs), སྐྱོ་གླུ (skyo glu)
• Turkish: ağıt (tr), sagu (tr), mersiye (tr)
• Welsh: marwnad f
• Yiddish: עלעגיע f (elegye)
• Zazaki: hewal

Further reading

• James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Elegy”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume III (D–E), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 82, column 1.

Anagrams

• lyege

Hungarian

Etymology

First attested in 1508. Back-formation from elegyít, elegyedik, or obsolete elegyül.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈɛlɛɟ]
• Hyphenation: elegy
• Rhymes: -ɛɟ

Noun

elegy (plural elegyek)

1. (chemistry and figuratively) mixture

   Synonym: keverék

Declension

Inflection (stem in -e-, front unrounded harmony)

	singular	plural
nominative	elegy	elegyek
accusative	elegyet	elegyeket
dative	elegynek	elegyeknek
instrumental	eleggyel	elegyekkel
causal-final	elegyért	elegyekért
translative	eleggyé	elegyekké
terminative	elegyig	elegyekig
essive-formal	elegyként	elegyekként
essive-modal	—	—
inessive	elegyben	elegyekben
superessive	elegyen	elegyeken
adessive	elegynél	elegyeknél
illative	elegybe	elegyekbe
sublative	elegyre	elegyekre
allative	elegyhez	elegyekhez
elative	elegyből	elegyekből
delative	elegyről	elegyekről
ablative	elegytől	elegyektől
non-attributive possessive – singular	elegyé	elegyeké
non-attributive possessive – plural	elegyéi	elegyekéi

Possessive forms of elegy

possessor	single possession	multiple possessions
1st person sing.	elegyem	elegyeim
2nd person sing.	elegyed	elegyeid
3rd person sing.	elegye	elegyei
1st person plural	elegyünk	elegyeink
2nd person plural	elegyetek	elegyeitek
3rd person plural	elegyük	elegyeik

Derived terms

• elegyes

Compound words with this term at the beginning

• elegyarány
• elegyfázis
• elegysúly
• elegyszabály
• elegytakarmány
• elegytonna-kilométer

Compound words with this term at the end

• gázelegy
• gyúelegy
• nitrálóelegy
• oldószerelegy
• reakcióelegy

Further reading

• elegy in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.
• elegy in Nóra Ittzés, editor, A magyar nyelv nagyszótára [A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (Nszt.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published a–ez as of 2024).