A Dead Language?

Not really.

If Western music was born out of the classical era, where Greek philosophers determined the essence of music, Pythagoras created the foundation for music theory, and Greek playwrights pioneered the use of music in theatre, then wouldn’t the ancient language live on in the musical terms we use today?

Here’s what I’ve found...

The words ‘music’, ‘melody’ and various types of musical compositions and songs, all have ancient Greek derivations:

MUSIC– Derived from the Greek word mousikos (μουσικός), which refers to all of the arts and sciences ruled by Zeus’ nine daughters, the Mousae or the Muses. According to 8th century BCE poet Hesiod, the Muses were Calliope (Chief of all Muses who presided over epic poetry), Clio (history), Thalia (comedy and pastoral poetry), Melpomene (tragedy), Terpsichore (dance), Erato (love poetry), Polyhymnia (sacred poetry), Urania (astronomy) and Euterpe (music and lyric poetry). The concept of a ‘museum’ was intended to be a shrine for the Muses.

MELODY – From the Greek word melos (μέλος) meaning ‘song’ combined with

aeidein (ἀείδειν) meaning ‘to sing’.

ARIA - From the Greek word aer (ᾱ̓ήρ), meaning ‘air’.

HYMN - Derivation of the Greek word humnos (ῠ̔́μνος), meaning ‘ode or song in praise of a god or hero’.

ODE – From the Greek verb aeidein (ἀείδειν) meaning ‘to sing’.

PSALM – From the Greek words psalmos (ψαλμός), which means ‘song sung to harp music’ and the root verb psallein (ψαλλειν), which means ‘to pluck a stringed instrument’.

RHAPSODY - Derivation of the Greek words rhapto (ῥᾰ́πτω)

meaning ‘I sew’ and oide (ᾠδή) for ‘song’.

SYMPHONY - Derivation of the ancient Greek word sumphonia (σῠμφωνῐ́ᾱ), meaning ‘harmony’. From sun (σῠν), meaning ‘together’ and phone (φωνή) for ‘sound’.

Then there is ‘harmony’, its descriptors and the modes:

HARMONY - Derivation of harmos (ἁρμός) ‘joint’.

CHROMATIC - From khroma (χρῶμᾰ), meaning ‘colour’ and ‘chromatic scale’.

DIATONIC - From the Greek words dia (δῐᾰ), meaning ‘through’ and tonos (τόνος) for ‘tone’.

PENTATONIC - From ancient Greek pente (πέντε), meaning ‘five’ and tonos (τόνος) for ‘tone’.

PLAGAL - From ancient Greek plagios (πλάγῐος), meaning ‘placed sideways, slanting’.

The names of the seven modes are derived from the names of different areas of the Ancient Greek empire.

IONIAN (a region on the western coast of Anatolia, now Turkey), DORIAN (one of the four major ethnic groups of the Hellenes), PHRYGIAN (Phrygia in Asia Minor, now Asian Turkey), LYDIAN (an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor), MIXOLYDIAN, AEOLIAN (another Hellenic tribe), and LOCRIAN (the region of Locris).

Words for texture:

ANTIPHONY – From ancient Greek antiphona (ἀντίφωνᾰ), meaning ‘reponses, musical accords’.

CACOPHONY - From the Greek word kakos (κᾰκός), meaning ‘bad’ and phone (φωνή) for ‘sound’.

HETEROPHONY - Derivation of the Greek word heterophonos (ἑτερόφωνος), ‘of different voice’.

HOMOPHONY - From Greek words homo (ὁμο) meaning ‘same’, and phone (φωνή) for ‘sound, voice’.

MONOPHONY - From the Greek words monos (μόνος), meaning ‘single’ and phone (φωνή) for ‘sound, voice’.

POLYPHONY - Derived from the Greek words polus (πολῠ́ς) ‘many, a lot of’ and phone (φωνή) for ‘sound, voice’.

‘Rhythm’ and related words:

RHYTHM – Derivation of the ancient Greek words rhuthmos (ῥῠθμός) meaning ‘any measured flow or movement, symmetry, rhythm’ and from rheo (ῥέω) meaning ‘I flow’.

HEMIOLA – From the Greek adjective hemiolios (ἡμιόλιος), meaning ‘containing one and a half’ or ‘in the ratio of one and a half to one (3:2)’.

METRONOME - Derived from the Greek words metron (μέτρον), meaning ‘measure’ and nomos (νόμος) for ‘law’.

POLYRHYTHM –From the Greek words polus (πολῠ́ς) ‘much’, polloi (πολλοί) ‘many’ and rhuthmos (ῥῠθμός).

SYNCOPATION – From the ancient Greek words sun (σῠ́ν) ‘with’ and kopto (κόπτω) ‘cut’.

And more:

ACOUSTIC - Derivation of the Greek words akoustikos (ακουστικός) ‘of or for hearing’ and the root verb akouein (ἀκούειν) ‘to hear’.

ARSIS - From arsis (ᾰ̓́ρσῐς), meaning ‘lifting’ and root verb aeiro (ἀείρω) for ‘I raise’.

CHORUS - From khoros (χορός), meaning chorus.

EUPHONIUM - From the ancient Greek word euphonos (εὔφωνος), meaning ‘having a pleasing sound’.

TIMBRE - From ancient Greek tumpanon (τύμπανον), meaning ‘drum’.

So there you have it. Definitely not dead.

Sources: Oxford Languages, Merriam-Webster, Wiktionary, Wikipedia, Britannica