comedy

• n. 喜剧；喜剧性；有趣的事情

词态变化

中文词源

com, 缩写自希腊文komos, 欢乐，伴侣，来自com-, 强调 ，一起，-it, 走，即走到一起，聚会。 -edy, 词源同ode, 颂诗，颂歌。

英文词源

comedy

comedy: [14] Comedy is of Greek origin. It comes ultimately from Greek kōmos ‘revelry’. This appears to have been combined with ōidós ‘singer, poet’ (a derivative of aeídein ‘sing’, source of English ode and odeon) to produce kōmōidós, literally ‘singer in the revels’, hence ‘actor in a light amusing play’. From this was derived kōmōidíā, which came to English via Latin cōmoedia and Old French comedie.
=> encomium, ode

comedy (n.)

late 14c., from Old French comedie (14c., "a poem," not in the theatrical sense), from Latin comoedia, from Greek komoidia "a comedy, amusing spectacle," probably from komodios "actor or singer in the revels," from komos "revel, carousal, merry-making, festival," + aoidos "singer, poet," from aeidein "to sing," related to oide (see ode).

The passage on the nature of comedy in the Poetic of Aristotle is unfortunately lost, but if we can trust stray hints on the subject, his definition of comedy (which applied mainly to Menander) ran parallel to that of tragedy, and described the art as a purification of certain affections of our nature, not by terror and pity, but by laughter and ridicule. [Rev. J.P. Mahaffy, "A History of Classical Greek Literature," London, 1895]

The classical sense of the word, then, was "amusing play or performance," which is similar to the modern one, but in the Middle Ages the word came to mean poems and stories generally (albeit ones with happy endings), and the earliest English sense is "narrative poem" (such as Dante's "Commedia"). Generalized sense of "quality of being amusing" dates from 1877.

Comedy aims at entertaining by the fidelity with which it presents life as we know it, farce at raising laughter by the outrageous absurdity of the situation or characters exhibited, & burlesque at tickling the fancy of the audience by caricaturing plays or actors with whose style it is familiar. [Fowler]

双语例句

1. Paul is a thoroughly likeable man with an unerring sense of comedy.

保罗十分讨人喜欢，开玩笑时很有分寸。

来自柯林斯例句

2. Actor Dom Deluise talks about his career in comedy.

演员多姆·德卢西谈论自己的喜剧生涯。

来自柯林斯例句

3. This comedy of contemporary manners is told with compassion and acid humour.

这部当代风尚喜剧杂糅了悲悯的情怀和尖酸的幽默。

来自柯林斯例句

4. This year numerous bands are playing, as well as comedy acts.

今年除了那些搞笑短剧外，还会有众多乐队登台献艺。

来自柯林斯例句

5. The Gaiety is reviving John B. Kean's comedy "The Man from Clare".

盖伊提剧院正在重新上演约翰·B.基恩的喜剧《来自克莱尔的人》。

来自柯林斯例句