τραγῳδία

See also: τραγωδία

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From τραγῳδός (tragōidós, “singer and dancer in the tragic choir; tragic actor”), which is traditionally derived from τράγος (trágos, “goat, buck”) + ἀοιδός (aoidós, “singer”), though the reasoning behind the formation is uncertain. One theory, mentioned by Beekes, is that goats were given as a prize to the winner in the oldest dramatic Agon competitions;^[1] another theory contends that the association with goats comes from the Dionysia festivals in Athens, which featured singing and dancing by characters dressed in goat skins representing satyrs, who were Dionysus's attendants.^[2]

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /tra.ɡɔːi̯.dí.aː/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /tra.ɡoˈdi.a/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /tra.ɣoˈði.a/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /tra.ɣoˈði.a/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /tra.ɣoˈði.a/

Noun

τρᾰγῳδῐ́ᾱ • (trăgōidĭ́ā) f (genitive τρᾰγῳδίᾱς); first declension

a tragedy or heroic play
Coordinate term: κωμῳδῐ́ᾱ (kōmōidĭ́ā)
- 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Poetics 3.5
- 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 5.67
- 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Poetics 4.14
(loosely) any grave, serious poetry
- 366 BCE – 348 BCE, Plato, Theaetetus 152E, (Compare The Republic 605C)
1. an exaggerated speech, made by a prosecutor
  - Hypereides, For Lycophron 10
2. tragic fictions and terrors
  - 200 BCE – 118 BCE, Polybius, The Histories 6.56.11
  - 36 BCE – 30 BCE, Diodorus Siculus, Historical Library 19.8
  - 46 CE – 120 CE, Plutarch, Demetrius 41
  - 315 BCE – 240 BCE, Aratus, Phaenomena 15
3. (generally) pomp, display
  - Bentley, Phalaris 353
  - 125 CE – 200 CE, Lucian, The Dream or Lucian's Career 24
4. a melancholy event, a tragedy
  - 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Laws 817B
  - 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Philebus 50B
5. song
  - Boissonade, Anecdota 4.411.892

Declension

First declension of ἡ τρᾰγῳδῐ́ᾱ; τῆς τρᾰγῳδῐ́ᾱς (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ τρᾰγῳδῐ́ᾱ hē trăgōidĭ́ā	τὼ τρᾰγῳδῐ́ᾱ tṑ trăgōidĭ́ā	αἱ τρᾰγῳδῐ́αι hai trăgōidĭ́ai
Genitive	τῆς τρᾰγῳδῐ́ᾱς tês trăgōidĭ́ās	τοῖν τρᾰγῳδῐ́αιν toîn trăgōidĭ́ain	τῶν τρᾰγῳδῐῶν tôn trăgōidĭôn
Dative	τῇ τρᾰγῳδῐ́ᾳ tēî trăgōidĭ́āi	τοῖν τρᾰγῳδῐ́αιν toîn trăgōidĭ́ain	ταῖς τρᾰγῳδῐ́αις taîs trăgōidĭ́ais
Accusative	τὴν τρᾰγῳδῐ́ᾱν tḕn trăgōidĭ́ān	τὼ τρᾰγῳδῐ́ᾱ tṑ trăgōidĭ́ā	τᾱ̀ς τρᾰγῳδῐ́ᾱς tā̀s trăgōidĭ́ās
Vocative	τρᾰγῳδῐ́ᾱ trăgōidĭ́ā	τρᾰγῳδῐ́ᾱ trăgōidĭ́ā	τρᾰγῳδῐ́αι trăgōidĭ́ai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

τρᾰγῳδῐογρᾰ́φος (trăgōidĭogrắphos)
τρᾰγῴδῐον (trăgōídĭon)

Descendants

Greek: τραγωδία (tragodía)
Pontic Greek: τραγωδία (tragodía), τραβωδία (travodía), τραωδία (traodía)
- → Laz: ტრაღოდა (ťrağoda), ტრაღუდა (ťrağuda), ტრაღოდუ (ťrağodu), ტრაღუდი (ťrağudi) (partly)
→ Latin: tragoedia (see there for further descendants)

References

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), “τραγῳδός”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1498
^ https://archive.ph/NYeKW