Show f THE ROMANCE OF WORDS TRAGEDY IS COVERy of the fact that athe the word tragedy Is a compound of two greek words goat and song and that a literal translation of thu the original term would tic be a tong song of the goat throws but little light upon the modern use of the word until one examine the custom in vogue in ancient greece particularly in connection with the production of tragedies here though we find that the goat played a central role in these entertainments not on only y animals offer offered was one of the as a prize for the best performance by the actors but because the goat Is very partial to eting eating grapevines grape vines vides find and therefore an enemy of bacchus the pagan god of wine in whose honor the festivals were held one of them ins as sacrificed at each pro d of a tragedy further to carry out the simile the actors were dressed for the most part in goat skins because ninny many of them posed as martyrs a custom from which I ilch we obtain our word satirical the singing of a soler solemn nn melancholic song was tile signal for the sacrifice of the goat find and it Is because of this connection alon that we apply the word tragedy to something which Is extremely ett remely sad whether on the stage or in everyday life copyright 4 t f |