† Olympionicn.
Origin: Either (i) a borrowing from French. Or (ii) a borrowing from Latin. Or (iii) a borrowing from Greek. Etymons: French olympionique; Latin Olympionīcēs; Greek Ὀλυμπιονίκης.
Etymology: < French olympionique (1617) or its etymon classical Latin Olympionīcēs or that word's etymon Hellenistic Greek Ὀλυμπιονίκης ode in honour of a victor in the Olympic Games, use as noun (probably short for Ὀλυμπιονίκης ὕμνος ) of masculine singular of ancient Greek Ὀλυμπιονίκης relating to an Olympic victory (also as noun denoting an Olympic victor) < Ὀλυμπία (see Olympian adj.2 and n.1) + -νίκης , combining form < the base of νίκη victory (see Nike n.).Compare the following later unassimilated loan of the Latin word:1870 W. Smith Dict. Greek & Rom. Antiq. (new ed.) 832/1 There were many ancient works on the subject of the Olympic Games and the conquerors therein... Pliny..speaks of Agriopas as a writer of Olympionicae. N.E.D. (1902) gives the pronunciation as (olimpiǫ·nik) /əʊlɪmpɪˈɒnɪk/.
Obsolete.
society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > poem or piece of poetry > lyric poem > [noun] > ode > other types of ode
a1749 A. Philips Pastorals, Epistles, & Odes in (1937) 140 The First Olympionique of Pindar.
1779 S. Johnson Cowley in I. 109 In the Olympionick an oath is mentioned in a single word.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2004; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
n.a1749