lyra

See also: Lyra, lýra, and Lýra

English

Etymology 1

Noun

lyra

1. (anatomy, dated) The middle portion of the ventral surface of the fornix of the brain; so called from the arrangement of the lines with which it is marked in the human brain.
   • 1840, Alexander Tweedie, William Wood Gerhard, A system of practical medicine: Volume 1, page 295:

     The vessels of the brain generally are often distended and gorged with blood, the lyra especially being fully injected.

Etymology 2

Noun

lyra (plural lyras)

1. A vertically suspended hoop used in acrobatic performances.

Etymology 3

Earliest known depiction of lyra (sense 1) in a Byzantine ivory casket (900 – 1100 AD). (Museo Nazionale, Florence)

Various models of the Cretan lyra (sense 2) at the museum of Greek traditional instruments, Athens.

From Ancient Greek λῠ́ρᾱ (lúrā) or Modern Greek λύρα (lýra). Doublet of lira, Lyra, and lyre.

Alternative forms

• lira (Byzantine lyra)

Noun

lyra (plural lyras)

1. A bowed string musical instrument used in the Byzantine Empire.
   • 2013, Howard Goodall, “The Age of Penitence, 1450–1650”, in The Story of Music, Chatto & Windus, page 55:

     A Persian scholar of the early tenth century, lbn Khurradadhbih, reported the lyra to be in widespread use throughout the empire, along with organs and bagpipes.

   • 2019, Efthimios Bakarezos, Yannis Orphanos, Evaggelos Kaselouris, Vasilios Dimitriou, Michael Tatarakis, Nektarios A. Papadogiannis, “Laser-Based Interferometric Techniques for the Study of Musical Instruments”, in Rolf Bader, editor, Computational Phonogram Archiving (Current Research in Systematic Musicology), Springer, →ISBN, →ISSN, →LCCN, page 257:

     The Cretan lyra is considered to be the most popular surviving form of the medieval Byzantine lyra, an ancestor of most European bowed instruments.

   • 2021, Robert U. Ayres, The History and Future of Technology: Can Technology Save Humanity from Extinction?, Springer, →ISBN, page 72:

     The direct ancestor of all European bowed instruments is the Arabic rebab which developed into the Byzantine lyra by the ninth century and later the European rebec.

2. A bowed instrument used in folk music in Crete, Greece.
   • 1980, Margaret Anne Downie, “The Modern Greek Lyra”, in Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society, page 153:

     According to the Greek musicologist Fivos Anoyanakis, the piriform lyras of Crete have, at various times throughout history, been produced in different sizes and styles.

   • 1988, Krētē: Monthly Publication of the Pancretan Association of America, page 10:

     Immediately after the ceremony, the wedding procession, accompanied by the lyra, lute (laouto) and songs, returns to the groom’s house […]

   • 2019, Janet Sturman, editor, The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Music and Culture, SAGE Publications:

     In Crete, the lyra continues to be practiced.

   • 2020, “Cretan Lyra”, in Andrew R. Martin, Matthew Mihalka, editors, Music Around the World: A Global Encyclopedia, ABC-Clio, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 207:

     Faithfully following the authentic local tradition, most lyras are entirely handmade.

Derived terms

• lyra viol

Further reading

• Byzantine lyra on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Cretan lyra on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Lary, RYLA, Rayl, Ryal, aryl, lyar, ryal, yarl

Czech

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin lyra (“a lyre, a lyric”), from Ancient Greek λύρᾱ (lúrā, “a lyre”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈlɪra]
• Rhymes: -ɪra
• Hyphenation: ly‧ra
• Homophone: lira

Noun

lyra f

1. lyre (ancient musical instrument) [19th c.]

Declension

Declension of lyra (hard feminine)

	singular	plural
nominative	lyra	lyry
genitive	lyry	lyr
dative	lyře	lyrám
accusative	lyru	lyry
vocative	lyro	lyry
locative	lyře	lyrách
instrumental	lyrou	lyrami

Related terms

• lyrický
• lyrik
• lyrika

 

Anagrams

• ryla

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek λύρᾱ (lúrā, “lyre”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈly.ra/, [ˈlʲʏrä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈli.ra/, [ˈliːrä]

Noun

lyra f (genitive lyrae); first declension

1. (music) lyre, lute
   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 5.105–106:

     ‘septēna putāris, Plēiadum numerum, fīla dedisse lyrae’

     ‘‘you are thought to have given seven – the number of the Pleiads – strings to the lyre’’
     (The muse Calliope credits Hermes/Mercury with inventing the lyre, and giving it seven strings to honor his mother Maia, eldest of the Pleiades (Greek mythology).)

2. the northern constellation Lyra

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	lyra	lyrae
Genitive	lyrae	lyrārum
Dative	lyrae	lyrīs
Accusative	lyram	lyrās
Ablative	lyrā	lyrīs
Vocative	lyra	lyrae

Derived terms

• lyricen
• lyricus
• lyristēs

Descendants

• → English: Lyra
• → English: lyra
• → French: lyre
• → Spanish: lira

References

• “lyra”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “lyra”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “lyra”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “lyra”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

lyra f (definite singular lyra, indefinite plural lyrer or lyror, definite plural lyrene or lyrone)

1. (pre-2012) alternative form of lyre
2. definite singular of lyre

Swedish

lyra

Noun

lyra c

1. a lyre (a stringed musical instrument)
2. a European pollock (Pollachius pollachius)

   Synonyms: lyrtorsk, (regional) bleksej, bleka

3. (brännboll) a catch without the ball having touched the ground

Declension

Declension of lyra
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	lyra	lyran	lyror	lyrorna
Genitive	lyras	lyrans	lyrors	lyrornas

Derived terms

a catch in brännboll

• enhandslyra

Anagrams

• ylar