ἐλεγεία

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Ellipsis of ἐλεγεία ᾠδή (elegeía ōidḗ, “an elegiac song”), from ἐλεγεῖος (elegeîos, “elegiac”), from ἔλεγος (élegos, “poem or song of lament”), perhaps from Phrygian.^[1]

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /e.le.ɡěː.aː/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /e.leˈɡi.a/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /e.leˈʝi.a/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /e.leˈʝi.a/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /e.leˈʝi.a/

Noun

ἐλεγείᾱ • (elegeíā) f (genitive ἐλεγείᾱς); first declension

elegy
Synonym: ἐλεγεῖον (elegeîon)

Inflection

First declension of ἡ ἐλεγείᾱ; τῆς ἐλεγείᾱς (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ ἐλεγείᾱ hē elegeíā	τὼ ἐλεγείᾱ tṑ elegeíā	αἱ ἐλεγεῖαι hai elegeîai
Genitive	τῆς ἐλεγείᾱς tês elegeíās	τοῖν ἐλεγείαιν toîn elegeíain	τῶν ἐλεγειῶν tôn elegeiôn
Dative	τῇ ἐλεγείᾳ tēî elegeíāi	τοῖν ἐλεγείαιν toîn elegeíain	ταῖς ἐλεγείαις taîs elegeíais
Accusative	τὴν ἐλεγείᾱν tḕn elegeíān	τὼ ἐλεγείᾱ tṑ elegeíā	τᾱ̀ς ἐλεγείᾱς tā̀s elegeíās
Vocative	ἐλεγείᾱ elegeíā	ἐλεγείᾱ elegeíā	ἐλεγεῖαι elegeîai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

ἐλεγειακός (elegeiakós)
ἐλεγειδάριον (elegeidárion)

Descendants

Greek: ελεγεία (elegeía)
→ Latin: elegīa
- → English: elegy
- → French: élégie
- → Portuguese: elegia
- → Spanish: elegía
→ Russian: эле́гия (elégija)

References

^ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “ἐλεγεία”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.