Art & MusicGreek → English
Coryphaeus
/ˌkɒrɪˈfiːəs/noun
The leader of a chorus in Greek drama, or the principal player of an orchestral section.
The Greek roots
κορυφή
koryphḗ
head, summit
Literally: “the topmost one”
Follow a root:κορυφή1 word
The story of the word
In Athenian tragedy the coryphaeus spoke for the chorus, stepping out of the singing group to trade lines with the actors alone. κορυφή is the crown of the head or the peak of a mountain, so the leader was simply the man at the top. Orchestras kept the word for the principal of a section, and ballet keeps the French form coryphée for a dancer ranked just above the corps.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
- First recorded
- 17th century
Same family
coryphéecorypha
In a sentence
The coryphaeus carries most of the argument in the second half of the play.
She danced two seasons as a coryphée before a knee injury ended it.