释义 |
tragedyn.Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French tragedie; Latin tragoedia. Etymology: < (i) Middle French tragedie, tregedie (French tragédie ) medieval narrative or narrative poem dealing with sorrowful or disastrous events (c1300 in Old French), classical or Renaissance verse drama written in an elevated style and dealing with the downfall or death of the protagonist (c1370; the senses ‘tragic event or series of events’ and ‘genre of drama or literature which consists of tragedies’ are not paralleled in French until later than in English: 1552 and 1553 respectively), and its etymon (ii) classical Latin tragoedia tragic play, art of writing such plays, (mock) tragic performance, (in plural, with reference to style) heroics, histrionics, in post-classical Latin also hymn sung at a sacrifice in ancient Greece (1503 in the passage translated in quot. 1546 at sense 7), rigmarole, rumpus (a1517 in a British source) < ancient Greek τραγῳδία tragic drama, tragic play, any serious poetry, in Hellenistic Greek also outward grandeur, pomp < τραγῳδός member of the tragic chorus, performer of tragedy, (plural) tragedy or performance of a tragedy (perhaps < τράγος he-goat (see tragus n.) + ᾠδή ode n., after ῥαψῳδός rhapsode n.; perhaps so called because a he-goat was offered as a prize in the earliest contests for writing tragedy) + -ία -y suffix3. Compare Catalan tragèdia (15th cent.), Spanish tragedia (c1280), Portuguese tragédia (15th cent.), Italian tragedia (beginning of the 14th cent.). The Latin noun was also borrowed into other Germanic languages; compare Middle Dutch, Dutch tragedie, German Tragödie (15th cent., in early use with Latin inflectional endings), Swedish tragedi (1550).The semantic motivation of the Greek word has been variously explained, and some even dispute the connection with ‘goat’. Compare G. F. Else in Hermes (1957) 85 17 ff. In sense 3 (which is not paralleled in either French or Latin) apparently influenced semantically by tragedian n. 1. The β. forms probably result from association with words in -ry suffix. 1. society > leisure > the arts > literature > a written composition > [noun] > tragic ?c1400 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius (BL Add. 10340) (1868) ii. pr. ii. l. 885 Þe criinges of Tragedies... Tragedie is to seyne a dite of a prosperite for a tyme þat endiþ in wrechednesse. c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 83 Or ellis first tragedies [c1415 Corpus Oxf. tregedys, c1415 Lansd. Tregedise, c1425 Petworth tregedies] wol I telle. a1413 (c1385) G. Chaucer (Pierpont Morgan) (1882) v. l. 1786 Go litel bok, go litel myn Tregedie. c1460 J. Lydgate in (1911) i. 73 (MED) At funeral feestys men synge tragedies With wooful ditees of lamentacioun. 1531 T. Elyot i. x. sig. Eiijv Than shall he in redyng tragoedies execrate and abhorre the intollerable life of tyrantes. 1593 T. Churchyard 1 (heading) The Earle of Mvrtons tragedie, once Regent of Scotland..: yet Fortune enuying his estate and noblenes, brought him to lose his head on a Skaffold. 1788 R. Henry (ed. 2) VIII. iv. vii. 420 By comedies they [sc. medieval authors] meant only pleasant facetious stories..; and by tragedies, tales of woe, adapted to excite terror, grief, and pity. 1871 F. J. Furnivall 77 The first part of [Chaucer's] Troylus may be called a comedy, the latter a tragedy. 1952 D. W. Robertson in 19 7 The subject of a Chaucerian tragedy is..a man who has allowed himself to be elevated spiritually by ‘good’ fortune. Having achieved this eminence, he is beset by ‘evil’ fortune or adversity, before which he falls. 2005 M. Hattaway iii. 84 Medieval tragedies..depicted the fall of a great person from high degree. Often this was ascribed simply to the remorseless turning of Fortune's wheel. society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > [noun] > tragedy > ancient Greek or Roman society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > a play > [noun] > a tragedy a1450 (?c1421) J. Lydgate (Arun.) (1911) l. 994 Ȝe may reden in a Tragedye Of Moral Senyk fully his endynge, His dool..How with sorow..This Edippus fille into dotage. 1483 W. Caxton tr. A. Chartier sig. vi As seyth Seneke in hys tragedyes, Age cometh to late to peple of smale howses. ?1548 J. Bale iv. sig. Eij Companyons I want, to begynne thys tragedye. 1597 W. Shakespeare (title) An excellent conceited Tragedie of Romeo and Iuliet. a1637 B. Jonson tr. Horace Art of Poetrie 391 in (1640) III Thespis is said to be the first, found out The Tragœdy, and carried it about, Till then unknown, in Carts, wherein did ride Those that did sing, and act. 1641 J. Milton 39 The Apocalyps of Saint Iohn is the majestick image of a high and stately Tragedy,..intermingling her solemn Scenes and Acts with a sevenfold Chorus of halleluja's and harping symphonies. 1702 G. Farquhar iv. iii. 50 Cry then Hansomly, cry like a Queen in a Trajedy. 1779 S. Johnson Otway in IV. 8 It [sc. Otway's The Orphan] is a domestick tragedy drawn from middle life. 1839 H. Hallam III. vi. 609 Five of his sixteen plays are tragedies, that is, are concluded in death. 1845 G. L. Craik III. 32 The chief thing demanded in a tragedy was a certain orderly pomp of expression. 1892 Feb. 455/1 Emil scored his first triumph as a character-actor in the part of the wily Bishop Nicholas in Ibsen's tragedy The Pretenders. 1909 May 35 How do you feel when you have finished a tragedy like ‘The Mill on the Floss’, ‘Tess of the D'Urbervilles’, ‘The Scarlet Letter’, ‘Père Goriot’, or ‘Anna Karénina’? 1996 C. Hyers viii. 158 Sophoclean and Shakespearean tragedies follow an unmistakable pattern of descent into dismay, dissolution, darkness, death and decay. 2009 (Nexis) 4 Feb. The film is a tragedy about an ex-convict's attempts to reconcile with his son and their contest for the love of the same woman. society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > [noun] > tragedy c1425 J. Lydgate (Augustus A.iv) ii. l. 852 Tragidie, who so list to knowe, It begynneth in prosperite, And endeth euer in aduersite; And it also doth þe conquest trete Of riche kynges and of lordys grete. ?1507 W. Dunbar (1998) I. 96 That scorpion fell [sc. Death] has done infek Maister Iohne Clerk and Iames Afflek Fra balat making and trigide. 1598 F. Meres 282 Plautus and Seneca are accounted the best for Comedy and Tragedy among the Latines. 1645 J. Milton Il Penseroso in 41 Som time let Gorgeous Tragedy In Scepter'd Pall com sweeping by. 1699 R. Bentley (new ed.) 297 Euripides was accused by Aristophanes..for debasing the Majesty and Grandure of Tragedy. 1740 C. Cibber v. 73 Booth thought it depreciated the Dignity of Tragedy to raise a Smile. 1757 W. Wilkie Pref. 5 In Epic poetry, Tragedy, or any other of the higher kinds of poetical composition. 1803 C. Dibdin I. 25 A young gentleman calculated to cut a figure in tragedy and pantomime. 1861 F. A. Paley (ed. 2) 799 (note) This use is common in Homer, but rare in tragedy. 1882 Dec. 770/2 To fight the battle of Shakespearean drama against Racinian tragedy. 1900 W. L. Courtney 12 Tragedy is always the clash of two powers—necessity without, freedom within. 1919 G. Saintsbury II. iii. 102 The piece..is tragic enough: it could hardly fail to be so in the hands of such a master of tragedy. 1978 J. King (1979) ii. 43 [Henry] James appears to have little interest in tragedy as a literary form. 1999 T. Y. Grande i. 31 Marlowe deflates the stately subject matter and serious tone of tragedy. 2005 17 Oct. 40/3 The movie veers from slapstick to tragedy. society > leisure > the arts > literature > writer or author > [noun] > writer of tragedy a1464 J. Capgrave (Cambr. Gg.4.12) (1983) 40 Sophocles and Euripides..were cleped tragedies. Trajedi is as mech to sey as he þat writith eld stories with ditées heuy and sorowful. a1500 ( J. Walton tr. Boethius (St. John's Cambr.) 152 (MED) Traladie [c1450 Linc. a traiadien in his ditee Noght causeles þus cryeth]. 4. the world > action or operation > adversity > calamity or misfortune > [noun] > misfortune or ill-luck > instance of misfortune or ill-luck > dreadful or severe 1509 S. Hawes (de Worde) xii. sig. E.ii His chere is dolorous As in bewaylynge a wofull tragedy. 1535 R. Layton Let. in T. Wright (1843) 76 To tell yowe all this commodie, but for thabbot a tragedie, hit were to long. 1617 F. Moryson i. 207 The warre of Hungarie made all those parts full of tragedies and miserie. 1657 J. Trapp i. 19 Lately at Witney..a scurrilous blasphemous Comedy was by the fall of the room wherein it was acted, turned into a Tragedy, as ending with the deaths of six. ?1749 W. Duff 241 The bloody Cardinal..witnessed this shocking scene and terrible tragedy in a pleasing and smiling countenance. 1784 July 44/2 His..jocularity throughout the dreadful tragedy of the King's trial and execution..gives greater pain than the action itself. 1860 C. Knight VI. xiv. 222 The fearful tragedy known as that of the Black Hole of Calcutta took place on the 20th of June, 1756. 1871 E. A. Freeman IV. xx. 572 The turning-point of William's reign, the tragedy of the fate of Waltheof. 1904 7 May 10/1 The most deplorable feature of the awful tragedy on the battleship Missouri is that the exact cause of the accident will never, probably, be discovered. 1953 3 Dec. 4/1 It would be a tragedy if the personal intimate side of British elections was steam-rollered into a flat monotony. 1988 Summer 4/2 It is a tragedy that our best young men are not joining the Defence Services. 1993 27 May 31/3 No other mainstream journalist has..caught the dimensions of the AIDS tragedy so poignantly. 2005 J. Canseco 157 John had to face a personal tragedy..when his eight-year-old son..died from a rare degenerative nerve disease. 1647 Bp. J. Taylor vii. 127 This long harangue must needs be full of tragedy to all them that take liberty to themselves to follow Scripture and their best Guides, if it happens in that liberty that they depart from the perswasions or the Communion of Rome. 1797 C. Smith II. Pref. xiv It is, indeed, a melancholy truth, that at this time there is so much tragedy in real life. 1868 Aug. 240/1 The New York Custom-house..is a place full of tragedy and full of farce. 1904 H. Fuller vi. 199 Human life is full of tragedy everywhere, yet in depth and force, tragedy had its full play in and about this city [sc. Jerusalem]. 1961 22 396 The ten slight and somewhat sketchy short stories..treat the human tragedy which is the result of racial injustice in South Africa. 2011 E. Trotter ix. 75 Her life seemed to be beset by tragedy, especially losing the people she loved so dearly. the mind > emotion > suffering > regret > [noun] > a matter for regret 1873 22 Feb. 99/2 The tragedy of love is simply unrequited love. 1895 3 Aug. 67/2 It shows the disappointment that lies in success, the tragedy of victory. 1911 G. B. Shaw Pref. p. vi The tragedy of illness at present is that it delivers you helplessly into the hands of a profession which you deeply mistrust. 1943 P. De Kruif v. 36 This is medicine's tragedy: where doctors are individual businessmen dealing with the average individual sick man, they dare not sell all the science they have to offer. 1994 P. D. James v. 42 The tragedy of loss is not that we grieve, but that we cease to grieve. 2010 5 July 16/4 The tragedy of formal education today is that anything remotely risky or exciting is simply pasteurised to oblivion. the world > action or operation > adversity > calamity or misfortune > [noun] > misfortune or ill-luck > an evil fate a1522 G. Douglas in tr. Virgil iv. Prol. 264 Sen I suld thi [sc. Dido's] trigidy endite. a1592 R. Greene (1599) i. sig. B1v This sword..should the Author be, To make an end of this my Tragedie. 1598 E. Ford xi. sig. L2v I feare..hee poore soule is destroyed by the trecherie of that wicked homicide.., who is not contented with his tragidie, but also seeketh my destruction. 1617 F. Moryson i. 186 He ceased not to bewaile my misery, and to recount my Tragedy as if it had been the burning of Troy. 1677 A. Marvell 155 Men sit by, like idle Spectators, and still give money towards their own Tragedy. 1738 J. Wesley (new ed.) xci. iv Thou..shalt look on and see The Wicked's dismal Tragedy. 1842 A. Strickland V. 84 Her wifely probation, as queen consort of England, was, however, near its close; for Henry's own tragedy was rapidly drawing to a termination. 1894 H. James Jrnl. 9 Jan. in (1981) 144 In what cases may the consciousness be said to survive—so that the man is the spectator of his own tragedy? 1927 June 47 These poor devils had laid the foundation for their tragedy in their youth. 2005 M. O. Baruch in G. D. Feldman & W. Seibel xi. 197 Jews were forced to become the very agents of their own tragedy. the mind > emotion > suffering > sorrow or grief > lamentation or expression of grief > [noun] > instance or act of lamenting 1536 R. Taverner tr. P. Melanchthon Apol. sig. T.vv, in Our aduersaries in the confutation make wonderfull tragedies, and sorowfull exclamations about the desolation of churches. 1567 J. Jewel ii. 259 Iudge thou..how iust causes M. Hardinge had, to moue these Tragedies. 1595 E. Spenser Amoretti liv, in sig. D4v I waile and make my woes a Tragedy. 1611 M. Smith in Transl. Pref. 2 Herevpon they raise vp a tragedie, and wish in their heart the Temple had neuer bene built. 1664 H. More Apol. in 538 Some would raise such Stirres and Tragedies about. 1689 C. Mather Disc. Witchcraft App. 11 in He raises dismal Tragedies upon the Persecution which his Friends here have met withal. society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > vocal music > religious or devotional > [noun] > hymn or song of praise > specific hymn 1546 T. Langley tr. P. Vergil i. ix. f. 18 As the aulters were kyndeled with fyre, and the Goate leyed on it, the quyre in honoure of Bacchus songe thys Meter called a Tragedie [L. Tragoedia]. 1684 tr. F. Hédelin d'Aubignac iv. ii. 110 Their [sc. the Athenians'] best Poets began to be concern'd in the Hymn to Bacchus... Because..the Victim that was sacrificed to him, was a Goat,..this Hymn was called Tragedy [Fr. Tragédie], as who should say, the Goat-Song. Compounds C1. society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > actor > [noun] > actor in specific type of play 1552 R. Huloet Tragedie player, tragœdus. 1582 R. Mulcaster v. 21 Could one Theodorus a Tragedie plaier espy that in the stage? 1690 R. Smith in tr. Plutarch V. 387 There must be also the Tragedy-Actors. 1736 H. Fielding 17 Enter Tragedy King and Queen, and knock at Covent-Garden Play-House Door. 1740 ii. 17 In short, all my Manner was burlesqu'd, and a mock Pomp of Words, which were a Parody of Tragedy Speeches. 1772 D. Garrick 11 Nov. (1963) II. 825 As to Mr Barry he is not paid, if he does not play: I will not say anything about the superior Sallary given to Tragedy-Actors. 1780 T. Francklin tr. Lucian I. 300 In hopes of getting five farthings, by the assistance of fortune, or some tragedy god, you come to the trial. 1798 M. Edgeworth & R. L. Edgeworth I. xii. 333 A tragedy heroine..is a moral-picturesque object. 1818 6 Dec. 774/2 Mrs. West, if she does not take care, will degenerate into a regular tragedy-actress. 1888 F. Hawkins I. 418 He would throw down his tools to declaim tragedy-speeches for the delectation of the workmen. 1900 May 50/1 More like a tragedy-king than a monarch of history. 2000 P. O. Qvist & P. von Bagh 63 He was also a great tragedy actor. 1714 J. Ozell tr. Molière Misantrope 149 in tr. Molière III. But what's the Occasion. I beseech you, of these Tragedy-Airs? Have you lost your Senses? 1767 3 Feb. Nor would the Audience be quiet 'till Mr. Stayley came forwards, which he did with a true Tragedy Strut. 1848 H. Mayhew 74 ‘Let me hope every one here will follow my example.’ So saying, I left the shop with a tragedy strut. 1854 13 May 306/2 I should be rather inclined to describe his gait as a tragedy stalk, like that of a tragedian of very great power at the Victoria Theatre. 1861 M. Eyre I. ii. 54 ‘Go back to your seat,’ said my aunt, in her tragedy voice. 1877 3 May 5/3 Among others I noticed a lady of middle age, who came in and out of the dining-room with a tragedy air. 1910 W. J. Locke viii. 102 She gazed at me with a tragedy air, wringing her hands. 2010 (Nexis) 5 Dec. 7 ‘Not quite nasal enough,’ thought Coogan. He added more nose for Caine's tragedy voice. ‘She was only 16 years old,’ he said, voice cracking. C2. 1702 R. Steele iv. 59 He is a Tragedy-Drum to one of the Play-Houses. 1737 R. Baker ii. xi. 42 The Tragedy Drum, from Drury-lane, wou'd speak with your Worship. 1832 J. Genest III. 514 The Tragedy Drum from D. L. says to Dr. Hyppo—‘Our Master desires you'll give Pistol the correction of your house.’ society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > actor > [noun] > actor in specific type of play 1784 R. Bage II. 102 You'll never get it by swelling yourself with pride and vanity, and speaking your words like a tragedy man. 1821 10 588 The vacant situation of tragedyman. 1859 R. S. Mackenzie 126 The first tragedy-man or the leading comedian may be comparatively modest in his own self-estimate. 1791 T. Paine i. 24 A tragedy-victim expiring in show, and not the real prisoner of misery. 1875 20 July 3/1 The man who was killed..was the hero of an obscure romance as well as a tragedy victim. 1928 29 Mar. 9/4 The Mojave desert has added another to its list of tragedy victims. 2012 (Nexis) 16 May 14 Relatives of tragedy victims struggling to adjust. society > leisure > the arts > literature > writer or author > [noun] > writer of tragedy 1552 R. Huloet Tragedie wryter, tragicus, Sophocles. c1740 G. Walmsley Let. 2 Mar. in J. Hawkins (1787) 39 Johnson is a very good scholar and a poet, and, I have great hopes, will turn out a fine tragedy-writer. 1860 25 Feb. 113/1 The grief of the unsuccessful farce writer is much less sublime than that of the disappointed tragedy writer. 2000 (Nexis) 18 Feb. 20 Unlike the tragedy writers of ancient Greece who wrote in classical Greek, Aristophanes wrote his plays in the vernacular. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.?c1400 |