epithalamium

English

Alternative forms

• epithalamion

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin epithalamium, itself borrowed from Ancient Greek ἐπιθαλάμιον (epithalámion, “bridal song”), neuter form of ἐπιθαλάμιος (epithalámios), from ἐπί (epí, “upon”) + θάλαμος (thálamos, “inner chamber, wedding chamber”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛpɪθəˈleɪmɪəm/

Noun

epithalamium (plural epithalamiums or epithalamia)

1. A song or poem celebrating a marriage.
   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     Softly she laughed and sighed, and swift her glances flew. She shook her heavy tresses, and their perfume filled the place; she struck her little sandalled foot upon the floor, and hummed a snatch of some old Greek epithalamium.

   • 1976, Choice - Volume 13, Issues 8-12, page 1300:

     He has wittily redone a tardy epithalamium and some nursery rhymes ("Three blind eunuchs"), and deftly catches the cozy lawnfuls of plastic dwarfs and flamingos, outside the kenneled people.

Derived terms

• epithalamic

Translations

song or poem celebrating a marriage

• Finnish: häälaulu (song), hääruno (poem)
• French: épithalame (fr) m
• Polish: epitalamium (pl) n

Further reading

• epithalamium on Wikipedia.Wikipedia