| Show TAKE MY WORD ORD FOR IT By Frank Colby Q What is the origin of the thep p phrase ti h r a s e dramatis personae meaning the cast of characters characters characters charac charac- in a play A. A Dramatis personae pronounced pronounced pronounced pro pro- DRA DRAM uh uh I per- per SOE-nee SOE is a Latin phrase which means literally the masks masl s of the drama The theaters of ancient Greece and Rome were hardly anything more than d dancing a n c i n g circles usually located at the foot of ofa ofa ofa a small hill on which the spectators spectators spectators spec spec- sat and looked down upon the play So great was the distance be between between between be- be tween audience and players that the actors had to wear large and exaggerated masks to identify identify identify iden iden- the characters which they portrayed T The Ii e m mas masks a s k s a also 1 s o 0 served as megaphones in magnifying magnifying magnifying magni magni- the voices of the players The Latin word for mask is persona and its literal meaning is the mask worn by the actors in the Greek and Roman drama By extension persona came to mean the lithe character represented represent represent- ed by the actor the part which anyone plays the character which one sustains in the world Hence a lIa p pel's person e r s o 0 n in the ab ab- ab- ab When persona entered English English English Eng Eng- lish and became the word person person person per per- son it was pronounced parson par parson son in the same way that the British still stUl say darby for derby dark clark for clerk Barkley Barkley Bark ley for Berkeley etc The British liar are sound survives in American speech in the words sergeant and varsity In those days it was customary customary customary custom custom- ary to speak of a man of high rank or dignity such as a choirmaster choirmaster choirmaster choir choir- master or a curate as the lithe per per- son In time the spelling was changed to correspond with the thear thear ar liar pronunciation and the word became parson meaning colloquially any clergyman or preacher But the word person in its p pre present r e s e n t sense remained unchanged unchanged unchanged un un- un- un changed in spelling and in the course of time the word lost the ar aI sound Thus we ve see that the word parson is the result of a corrupted corrupted corrupted cor cor- pronunciation of the word person which is an English English English Eng Eng- lish corruption of the Latin p persona persona per per- r- r sona a lIa mask or false face worn by an actor And that's where we came in Released by Bell Syndicate Inc |
