ABSTRACT
A GLOSSARY OF TERMS REFERRING TO MUSIC IN GREEK LITERATURE BEFORE 400
B.C.
Otto Christoph Steinmayer
Yale University
1985
Previous research into ancient Greek music has concentrated upon the
study of theoretical writings which survive mainly from later
antiquity. This dissertation examines the literary works of the archaic
and classical periods for all references to music, with intent to
discover information on how the Greeks perceived music as sound and as
emotion, and any possible technical information. The few extended
passages referring to music have already been treated by other
scholars. Still, the bulk of all references to music in this period are
very brief, and the interpretation of single words is crucial to
many points. Hence I have chosen the glossary form as the most
efficient method of presenting this research.
The musical terms fall into four main groups: a) names of instruments,
b) technical terms, c) verbs of singing and playing and nouns which
designate sounds, and d) adjectives describing how the timbre, range,
or emotion of music was perceived. I have discussed all these in the
light of their etymology and of their usage throughout our period. The
results of the entire survey resist summary. On the one hand, we can
gather no information on the shapes and conventions of melody or the
pitch structure of scales. Technical vocabulary is minimal. Yet there
are many words describing the timbre and emotion of music, and the
changes in this vocabulary through time allow us vaguely to trace the
development of styles from archaic to that of the New Music. A wealth
of evidence indicates how keenly the Greeks felt music as a joy of life.
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