On 12 Apr 2000, 4:15, Katie Andrews wrote:
> I recently heard a lecture wherein the speaker said that the root of
> 'tragedy' is 'tragos' meaning goat sacrifice? Can anyone verify this
> and/or enlighten me as to why the roots of this word are so strange?
> Thanks in advance.
>From Phrase and Fable:
http://www.bibliomania.com/Reference/PhraseAndFable/
<quote>
Tragedy - The goat-song (Greek, tragos-ode). The song that wins the
goat as a prize. This is the explanation given by Horace ( De Arte
Poetica, 220).
Tragedy. The first English tragedy of any merit was Gorboduc,
written by Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville. (See Ralph Roister
Doister.
The Father of Tragedy. AEschylos the Athenian. (B.C. 525-426.)
Thespis, the Richardson of Athens, who went about in a waggon with his
strolling players, was the first to introduce dialogue in the choral
odes, and is therefore not unfrequently called the "Father of Tragedy
or the Drama."
<quote>
Alan
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
