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): /ˈɛlɪdʒi/
• Hyphenation: el‧e‧gy

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Audio (CA)

  (file)

Noun

elegy (plural elegies)

1. A mournful or plaintive poem; a funeral song; a poem of lamentation. [from early 16th c.]
2. (music) A composition of mournful character.
3. a classical poem written in elegiac meter

Synonyms

• dirge, threnody

Coordinate terms

• requiem – a piece of music played at a mass for the dead

Derived terms

• elegiac
• elegiast
• elegist

 

Translations

mournful or plaintive poem or song

• Arabic: رِثَاء‎ m (riṯāʾ)
• Bulgarian: елегия (bg) f (elegija)
• Catalan: elegia (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 挽歌 (zh) (wǎngē) (trad. variant: 輓歌 (zh)), 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 f
• German: Elegie (de) f
• Greek: ελεγεία (el) (elegeía)

  Ancient: ἐλεγεία (elegeía)

• Hebrew: קִנָּה‎ (he) (kiná)
• Indonesian: elegi (id)

• Irish: marbhna m
• Japanese: 哀歌 (あいか, aika)
• Korean: 만가 (ko) (man'ga)
• Ladino: endecha
• Latin: elegīa f, elegī m pl
• Old Irish: marbnad f
• Polish: elegia (pl) f
• Portuguese: elegia (pt) 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,
• Swedish: elegi (sv) c
• Turkish: ağıt (tr), sagu (tr), mersiye (tr)
• Welsh: marwnad f
• Yiddish: עלעגיע‎ f (elegye)
• Zazaki: hewal (diq)

See also

• eulogy – similar sounding funeral word

Anagrams

• lyege