Art & MusicGreek → English
Dramaturgy
/ˈdræməˌtɜrdʒi/noun
The craft of shaping a play or production, from the structure of the script to the logic of a staging.
The Greek roots
δρᾶμα
drâma
deed, action, play
ἔργον
érgon
work
Literally: “the work of making action”
The story of the word
δρᾶμα is simply a thing done, from δράω, to do, so a Greek play is an action and δραματουργία is the labour of building one. Lessing published his Hamburg Dramaturgy in instalments from 1767 and turned the word into a post. German and Central European theatres still keep a Dramaturg on the staff, and English-language theatre borrowed the job back in the twentieth century.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → German → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
dramaenergysurgerymetallurgy
In a sentence
The dramaturgy falls apart in the third act and everyone in the room knew it.
She teaches dramaturgy to directors who have never read a play twice.