Wiktionary

lyra

See also: Lyra, lýra, and Lýra

English

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Etymology 1

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So called from the arrangement of the lines with which it is marked in the human brain.

Noun

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lyra

  1. (anatomy, dated) The middle portion of the ventral surface of the fornix of the brain.
    • 1840, Alexander Tweedie, William Wood Gerhard, A system of practical medicine: Volume 1, page 295:
      The vessels of the brain generally are often distended and gorged with blood, the lyra especially being fully injected.

Etymology 2

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Noun

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lyra (plural lyras)

  1. A vertically suspended hoop used in acrobatic performances.

Etymology 3

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Earliest known depiction of lyra (sense 1) in a Byzantine ivory casket (900 – 1100 AD). (Museo Nazionale, Florence)
 
Various models of the Cretan lyra (sense 2) at the museum of Greek traditional instruments, Athens.

From Ancient Greek λῠ́ρᾱ (lúrā) or Modern Greek λύρα (lýra). Doublet of lira, Lyra, and lyre.

Alternative forms

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  • lira (Byzantine lyra)

Noun

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lyra (plural lyras)

  1. A bowed string musical instrument used in the Byzantine Empire.
    • 2013, Howard Goodall, “The Age of Penitence, 1450–1650”, in The Story of Music, Chatto & Windus, page 55:
      A Persian scholar of the early tenth century, lbn Khurradadhbih, reported the lyra to be in widespread use throughout the empire, along with organs and bagpipes.
    • 2019, Efthimios Bakarezos, Yannis Orphanos, Evaggelos Kaselouris, Vasilios Dimitriou, Michael Tatarakis, Nektarios A. Papadogiannis, “Laser-Based Interferometric Techniques for the Study of Musical Instruments”, in Rolf Bader, editor, Computational Phonogram Archiving (Current Research in Systematic Musicology), Springer, →ISBN, →ISSN, →LCCN, page 257:
      The Cretan lyra is considered to be the most popular surviving form of the medieval Byzantine lyra, an ancestor of most European bowed instruments.
    • 2021, Robert U. Ayres, The History and Future of Technology: Can Technology Save Humanity from Extinction?, Springer, →ISBN, page 72:
      The direct ancestor of all European bowed instruments is the Arabic rebab which developed into the Byzantine lyra by the ninth century and later the European rebec.
  2. A bowed instrument used in folk music in Crete, Greece.
    • 1980, Margaret Anne Downie, “The Modern Greek Lyra”, in Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society, page 153:
      According to the Greek musicologist Fivos Anoyanakis, the piriform lyras of Crete have, at various times throughout history, been produced in different sizes and styles.
    • 1988, Krētē: Monthly Publication of the Pancretan Association of America, page 10:
      Immediately after the ceremony, the wedding procession, accompanied by the lyra, lute (laouto) and songs, returns to the groom’s house […]
    • 2019, Janet Sturman, editor, The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Music and Culture, SAGE Publications:
      In Crete, the lyra continues to be practiced.
    • 2020, “Cretan Lyra”, in Andrew R. Martin, Matthew Mihalka, editors, Music Around the World: A Global Encyclopedia, ABC-Clio, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 207:
      Faithfully following the authentic local tradition, most lyras are entirely handmade.
Derived terms
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Further reading

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Anagrams

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Czech

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin lyra (“a lyre, a lyric”), from Ancient Greek λύρᾱ (lúrā, “a lyre”).[1]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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lyra f

  1. lyre (ancient musical instrument) [19th c.]

Declension

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Declension of lyra (hard feminine)
singular plural
nominative lyra lyry
genitive lyry lyr
dative lyře lyrám
accusative lyru lyry
vocative lyro lyry
locative lyře lyrách
instrumental lyrou lyrami
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References

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  1. ^ Rejzek, Jiří (2015) “lyra”, in Český etymologický slovník (in Czech), 3rd (revised and expanded) edition, Praha: LEDA, →ISBN, page 391

Anagrams

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Latin

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 lyra on Latin Wikipedia

Etymology

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From Ancient Greek λύρᾱ (lúrā, “lyre”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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lyra f (genitive lyrae); first declension

  1. (music) lyre, lute
  2. the northern constellation Lyra

Declension

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First-declension noun.

singular plural
nominative lyra lyrae
genitive lyrae lyrārum
dative lyrae lyrīs
accusative lyram lyrās
ablative lyrā lyrīs
vocative lyra lyrae

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • → English: Lyra
  • → English: lyra
  • → French: lyre
  • → Spanish: lira

References

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  • “lyra”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “lyra”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • “lyra”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • “lyra”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Norwegian Nynorsk

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Noun

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lyra f (definite singular lyra, indefinite plural lyrer or lyror, definite plural lyrene or lyrone)

  1. (pre-2012) alternative form of lyre
  2. definite singular of lyre

Swedish

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Swedish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sv
 
en kvinna som spelar lyra [a woman playing the lyre [playing lyre]]

Noun

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lyra c

  1. (music) a lyre (stringed musical instrument)
  2. a European pollock (Pollachius pollachius)
    Synonyms: lyrtorsk, (regional) bleksej, bleka
  3. (brännboll) a catch without the ball having touched the ground

Declension

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Declension of lyra
nominative genitive
singular indefinite lyra lyras
definite lyran lyrans
plural indefinite lyror lyrors
definite lyrorna lyrornas

Derived terms

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a catch in brännboll

References

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Anagrams

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