Ἔλεγος
elegy
Translated by Catharine Roth28 Mar 2003Vetting: high4 revisions
Translation
[Meaning] a lament.1
[The term arises] from saying "e e". Or the laments sung to [sc. the accompaniment of] a pipe [aulos]; for the aulos is considered mournful.2
Or because the laments, that is the elegies, were sung to [the accompaniment of] an aulos. They say that Midas, the king of Gordion, later made the aulos [sc. the instrument used in] a funeral dirge, wanting to deify his own mother when she died.3
[The term arises] from saying "e e". Or the laments sung to [sc. the accompaniment of] a pipe [aulos]; for the aulos is considered mournful.2
Or because the laments, that is the elegies, were sung to [the accompaniment of] an aulos. They say that Midas, the king of Gordion, later made the aulos [sc. the instrument used in] a funeral dirge, wanting to deify his own mother when she died.3