ῥάπτω + ἀοιδός

Validation

Yes

Word-form

[implicit]

Transliteration (Word)

rhapsōdos

English translation (word)

rhapsode

Transliteration (Etymon)

rhaptō + aoidos

English translation (etymon)

sew together, devise + singer

Author

Pindar

Century

5 BC

Source

Idem

Ref.

Nemean Odes 2, 1-3

Ed.

H. Maehler, Pindari carmina cum fragmentis, 5th ed. (post B. Snell), Leipzig: Teubner, 1971

Translation (En)

Just as the Homeridae, the "singers" (aoidos) of "woven" (rhaptos) verses, most often begin with Zeus as their prelude (trad. Arnson Svarlien)

Comment

IMPLICIT etymology. Eustathius (Commentarii ad Homeri Iliadem 1.10, Van der Valk) points out explicitely the etymological wordplay : Πινδάρῳ δὲ ἀρέσκει οὐκ ἀπὸ ῥάβδου ἀλλ' ἐκ τοῦ ῥάπτειν τοὺς ῥαψῳδοὺς λέγεσθαι. περιφράζων γὰρ τοὺς ῥαψῳδούς «ῥαπτῶν ἐπέων ἀοιδούς» αὐτοὺς λέγει (Pindar considers that rhapsods are named from rhaptō and not from rhabdos. He uses a periphrasis to name the rhapsods, calling them ‘aoidos of verses sewn together (rhapta)’). This etymology, the correct one according to modern linguists, probably lies already in a fragment of Hesiod (fr. 357, Merkelbach/West), transmitted in a scholion to Pindar : ἐν Δήλωι τότε πρῶτον ἐγὼ καὶ Ὅμηρος ἀοιδοὶ/ μέλπομεν, ἐν νεαροῖς ὕμνοις ῥάψαντες ἀοιδήν/ Φοῖβον Ἀπόλλωνα χρυσάορον (Then in Delos, Homer and I, the singers, for the first time we celebrate, sewing a song in fresh and new hymns, Apollo Phoebus, the god with sword of gold). There is an alternative etymology, often mentioned along with this one, from ῥαβδός (rhabdos = rod, wand) instead of ῥάπτω (rhaptō), see ῥαψῳδία

Parallels

See, for rhapsode (ῥαψῳδός) vel rhapsody (ῥαψῳδία) : Philochorus, F 3b,328,F, fr 212 Jacoby (Φιλόχορος δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ συντιθέναι καὶ ῥάπτειν τὴν ὠιδὴν οὕτω φησὶν αὐτοὺς προσκεκλῆσθαι); Philoxenus, fr. 167 Theodoridis, in Schol. Dion. Thr. I 3, 28, 29 Hilgard (ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ ῥάπτειν (sc. ἐτυμολογεῖται ἡ ῥαψῳδία), ὅπερ ἐστὶ τὰ διεστῶτα καὶ διακεχωρισμένα εἰς ἓν συνάπτοντα ὑγιάζειν ; cf. Commentaria in Dionysii Thracis Artem Grammaticam, p. 29 (Hilgard) : Ἀπὸ τοῦ ῥάπτω οὖν τούτου ὁ μέλλων γίνεται ῥάψω, ἀφ' οὗ παράγωγον ῥαψῳδία) ; Commentaria In Dionysii Thracis Artem Grammaticam, Scholia Marciana, p. 315, 26-30 Hilgard (Ῥαψῳδία εἴρηται ἀπὸ τοῦ συνερράφθαι ἐκ διαφόρων λέξεων καὶ νοημάτων τὰ ἔπη, ἐξ ὧν ὑφαίνεται ἡ ὑπόθεσις· ἐρράφθαι δέ ἐστιν, ὡς ἴσμεν, τὸ κατεσκευάσθαι· ἐπειδὴ τὰ ἔπη συρράπτεται καὶ κατασκευάζεται ἐκ διαφόρων λέξεων καὶ νοημάτων, καὶ οὕτως ἐξυφαίνεται τὰ τῆς ὑποθέσεως) ; Ps.Zonaras, Lexicon, rho 1606 (παρὰ τὸ ῥάπτω καὶ τὸ ᾠδὴ γίνεται ῥαβδῳδία, καὶ τροπῇ τοῦ βδ εἰς ψ ῥαψῳδία) ; J. Tzetzes, Exegesis in Homeri Iliadem, Prol. 1.1211 (Ὡς γοῦν ἐκ διαφόρων οὕτω συμφορηθέντων εἰς ἓν τεῦχος ἐρράφησαν, ῥαψῳδίαι καλοῦνται) ; Souda, rho 70 (<Ῥαψῳδός·> ἡ Σφὶγξ ἡ ῥάπτουσα τὰς ᾠδάς = Scholia in Sophoclem, OT 391 Papageorgius) ; cf. Hesychius, Lexicon, rho 164 (ῥαψῳδία. ἡ σύνταξις τῶν λόγων, ἢ λόγων συῤῥαφή. ἢ μέρος ποιήματος). The two alternative etymologies are given in Commentaria In Dionysii Thracis Artem Grammaticam, Scholia Marciana, p. 179, 6-11 Hilgard (Τὴν ῥαψῳδίαν καὶ αὐτὸς παρετυμολογῶν λέγει διαφόρως παρῆχθαι· ἢ γὰρ παρὰ τὸ ῥάπτειν – ῥάψαι δέ ἐστιν, ὡς ἴσμεν, τὸ κατασκευάσαι – ἐπειδὴ τὰ ἔπη συρράπτεται ἔκ τε διαφόρων λέξεων καὶ νοημάτων, καὶ οὕτως ἐξυφαίνεται τὰ τῆς ὑποθέσεως· ἢ παρὰ τὸ μετὰ ῥάβδου δαφνίνης τοὺς ῥαψῳδοὺς τὰ ἔπη ἐπιδείκνυσθαι)

Modern etymology

Ῥαψῳδός is a compound meaning “sewer of songs" (ῥἀπτω + ᾠδή)

Persistence in Modern Greek

The word is still used in Modern Greek to designate the performer of rhaspodies in ancient Greece (Triandafyllidis Dict. of MG).)

Entry By

Arnaud Zucker