Word of the Day Archive
Monday May 31, 2010
threnody \THREN-uh-dee\
, noun:
A poem, speech, or song of lamentation, esp. for the dead; dirge; funeral song.
It was hugely difficult to sing, but it is painfully direct emotionally, and seemed a sort of threnody for Stephen and for Hugh and for Aziz and for a whole generation who had died needlessly young.
-- Simon Callow, "Stephen Oliver - In memory of a brief but brilliant career", The Independent, May 2010
The dominant note in Bryant is, certainly, threnody; but it is threnody without gloom. He had inherited from his Puritan ancestors the faith that illumines life and looks through death, and it never fails him.
-- Chueton Collins, "Poetry and Poets in America", The North American review, 1904
The source of threnody is the Greek thrēnōidÃa, where thrēnōs is "lamentation" and ōid is "song." (Also the root of ode.)
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for threnody