Dictionary

threnody en · NOUN

Pronunciation

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• /ˈθɹɛn.ə.di/

Etymology

From Ancient Greek θρηνῳδία (thrēnōidía, “lamentation”). Compare the New Latin thrēnōdia.

Meanings

1. A song or poem of lamentation or mourning for a dead person; a dirge; an elegy.
   • […] in the case of the well-circumstanced narration of the contest at Salamis and of the choral ode, which[…] is, in its panoramic marshalling of the conquests of Darius, a threnody on the ruin of his sea empire. 1924, Herbert Weir Smyth, “III. The Persians”, in Aeschylean Tragedy, page 84:
   • The fifer actually knew but one tune "The Bonnie Blue Flag"—and did not know that well. But it was all that he had, and he played it with wearisome monotony for every camp call. . . . I never hated any piece of music as I came to hate that threnody of treason. 1879, John McElroy, chapter 44, in Andersonville: A Story of Rebel Military Prisons:
   • A strongly personal note runs through Kenneth Leighton's Improvisation (Novello, 35p), which is a threnody in memory of Maurice de Sausmārez. Gently undulating, cantabile lines of ‘mourning’ alternate with sharp, anguished note-clusters which work up to a fierce paroxysm of grief. 1973, Ann Bond, “New Organ Music”, in The Musical Times, volume 114, number 1565, page 741:

Forms

Deriveds

threnodial · threnodic · threnodist

Synonyms

dirge · lamentation · elegy

Translations (37)

mk по́гребна пе́сна (a song or poem of lamentation) · sh жалопојка (a song or poem of lamentation) · es canto fúnebre (a song or poem of lamentation) · la nenia (a song or poem of lamentation) · vi bài điếu ca (a song or poem of lamentation) · pl tren (a song or poem of lamentation) · fr thrénodie (a song or poem of lamentation) · cmn 哀歌 (a song or poem of lamentation) · mk ре́дба (a song or poem of lamentation) · ta ஒப்பாரி (a song or poem of lamentation) · es treno (a song or poem of lamentation) · hu elégia (a song or poem of lamentation) · no klagesong (a song or poem of lamentation) · yue 悲歌 (a song or poem of lamentation) · nl klaagzang (a song or poem of lamentation) · fr lamentation (a song or poem of lamentation) · sh елегија (a song or poem of lamentation) · hu gyászdal (a song or poem of lamentation) · cmn 悲歌 (a song or poem of lamentation) · fr thrène (a song or poem of lamentation) · no klagesang (a song or poem of lamentation) · hu gyászének (a song or poem of lamentation) · pt trenodia (a song or poem of lamentation) · hu gyászköltemény (a song or poem of lamentation) · ja エレジー (a song or poem of lamentation) · hu kesergő (a song or poem of lamentation) · ja 悲歌 (a song or poem of lamentation) · ru эле́гия (a song or poem of lamentation) · mk та́жалка (a song or poem of lamentation) · fi surulaulu (a song or poem of lamentation) · de Threnodie (a song or poem of lamentation) · bg погреба́лна пе́сен (a song or poem of lamentation) · la threnus (a song or poem of lamentation) · yue 哀歌 (a song or poem of lamentation) · ru погреба́льная пе́снь (a song or poem of lamentation) · ja 哀歌 (a song or poem of lamentation) · fr plainte (a song or poem of lamentation)