dithyramb

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The Word of the Day for August 12 is:

dithyramb   \DITH-ih-ram\   noun 
     1 : a usually short poem in an inspired wild irregular strain 
    *2 : a statement or writing in an exalted or enthusiastic vein

Example sentence:
     "Among the items offered was the brand of peanut butter I especially relish..., with my published dithyramb to it alongside." (William F. Buckley Jr., _The New Yorker_, February 9, 1987) 

Did you know?    
     In ancient Greece, the wine god Dionysus (or Bacchus) was feted several times throughout the year. Processions, feasts, dances, and dramatic performances, accompanied by poems recited or sung in the god's honor, were all part of the revelry. Not too surprisingly, the poems tended to be wild, irregular, and dissonant. We know that the Greeks used "dithyrambos" as the word for a poem in honor of Dionysus, but beyond that the origin of the word is unknown. The ancient Greeks also had an adjective, "dithyrambikos," which gave us our adjective "dithyrambic," meaning "pertaining to or resembling a dithyramb." 

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.





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