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Wednesday 13 November 2019

Nuts and Bolts: melic.

Melic poetry is the carefully-structured Greek verse of the seventh and sixth century BC.

Yes, it is rather a minority interest, but luckily the word has extended its meaning to mean to do with song, or intended to be sung (especially when you're talking about poetry).

Melic is a rather beautiful word, and we still have melic poetry all round us.

One of my longest-term favourites is this one:

File:SingSong6dcaldecott.jpg

What's yours?

Word To Use Today: melic. This word was first used in English in 1699. It comes from the Greek word melikos, from melos, which means song.


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