leitmotif

English

WOTD – 28 July 2007

Alternative forms

• leitmotiv
• leit-motif

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] German Leitmotiv (“leading motif”), from leiten (“to lead”) + Motiv (“motif”), originally used to describe Wagnerian opera.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlaɪt.məʊˌtiːf/
• IPA^(key): /ˈlaɪt.moʊˌtif/, nonstandard IPA^(key): /ˈleɪt.moʊˌtif/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

leitmotif (plural leitmotifs)

1. (music) A melodic theme associated with a particular character, place, thing or idea in an opera.
2. A recurring theme.
   • 1975 October 27, Aaron Latham, “John Connally on the Comeback Road”, in New York, volume 8, number 43, page 48:

     If one looks for a pattern in the political life of John Connally, one finds a leitmotif of scandals which threatened but never destroyed his career.

Translations

melodic theme in an opera

• Armenian: լեյտմոտիվ (hy) (leytmotiv)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 主題／主题 (zh) (zhǔtí), 主题 (zh) (zhǔtí)

• Finnish: johtoaihe
• French: leitmotiv (fr) m
• German: Leitmotiv (de) n
• Greek: λάιτ μοτίβ (el) n (láit motív)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Icelandic: leiðarstef n
• Polish: lejtmotyw (pl) m
• Portuguese: leitmotiv m
• Russian: лейтмоти́в (ru) m (lejtmotív)
• Spanish: leitmotiv m
• Swedish: ledmotiv (sv) n

recurring theme

• Spanish: leitmotiv m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}