Elegiacs

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A form of poetry expressing sorrow, often lamenting the loss of something dear
2. Verses or stanzas that reflect mourning or regret, typically structured in a specific metrical pattern
3. A type of lyrical composition focusing on themes of grief, loss, and remembrance, often in an artistic format

Etymology: "Elegiacs" is the plural of "elegiac," an adjective that has been used as a noun for verse written in elegiac couplets. The adjective came into English from Middle French "élégiaque," which took it from Latin "elegiacus," and that in turn was borrowed from the Greek "elegeiakos," derived from "elegeia," a term for a poem in the elegiac metre. The sense of sorrow is what most people now expect, but the original line was defined by its metre rather than its mood. Greek and Roman poets used the elegiac couplet, a pairing of a hexameter line with a shorter pentameter line, for all sorts of subjects, including love, epigrams and war, and the grief that became the word's modern association came later. The plural form, "elegiacs," usually refers to a sequence of such verses, typically written in couplets.