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Word of the Day:
CORYPHEE (n. pl. -S)
Definition(s):
- (n.) a ballet dancer, especially one who performs in small ensembles and who ranks above a member of the corps de ballet and below a soloist
Useful info for word game players:
- Front hooks: (none)
- Back hooks: -S
- Anagrams: (none)
- Longer extensions: (none)
- Wraparounds: (none)
- Other Spellings: (none)
- Related Forms: CORYPHAEUS, CORYPHAEI
Current theme:
Dance
Epilogue:
The leader of an ancient Greek chorus was called a koryphaios, from a word meaning “head” or “summit.” The Latin version CORYPHAEUS is still used in English to refer to the leader of a chorus or, more generally, to a leader of a group, party, or school of thought. By further extension, the French form CORYPHEE came to denote one of the leaders of a ballet troupe.
Ballet has a rich hierarchy and vocabulary, much of which came into English by way of French in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Traditionally, the coryphees rank below the soloists, but above members of the “corps de ballet” or general company of dancers. A soloist was sometimes called a DANSEUR or DANSEUSE, prima BALLERINA, or ETOILE. A member of the corps de ballet was sometimes called a FIGURANT. In most modern American companies, there is now a simpler hierarchy of principals, soloists, and members of the corps de ballet.
This week we will glide and slide through some TERPSICHOREAN terminology. Terpsichore, the ancient Greek muse of song and dance, lent her name to that long but useful adjective meaning “pertaining to dance.”
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