threnody

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The Word of the Day for May 24 is:

threnody   \THREN-uh-dee\   noun
     : a song of lamentation for the dead : elegy 

Example sentence: 
      In the opera's final scene, the leading lady sings a threnody to mourn 
the murdered king.

Did you know? 
     "Threnody" encompasses all genres. There are great threnodies in prose 
(such as the lines from Charles Dickens' _Bleak House_ upon the death of Little 
Jo: "Dead, your Majesty. Dead, my lords and gentlemen. Dead..."), in poetry (as 
in W.H. Auden's "Funeral Blues": "The stars are not wanted now: put out every 
one, / Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun..."), and in music (Giovanni 
Pergolesi's "Stabat Mater," for one). "Threnody," which we borrowed from the 
Greek word "threnoidia" (from "threnos," the word for "dirge"), has survived in 
English since the early 1600s. "Melody" and "tragedy" are related to "threnody" 
through the Greek root that forms their ending -- "aeidein," which means "to 
sing." By the same token, "comedy" is related as well.