cothurnus

American  

[koh-thur-nuhs] / koʊˈθɜr nəs /

Also cothurn

noun

plural

cothurni

1. a grave and elevated style of acting; tragic acting; tragedy.

2. buskin.

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cothurnus British  

/ kəʊˈθɜːnəs, ˈkəʊθɜːn, kəʊˈθɜːn /

noun

1. the buskin worn in ancient Greek tragedy

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Other Word Forms

• cothurnal adjective

Etymology

Origin of cothurnus

1720–30; < Latin < Greek kóthornos buskin, type of boot worn by tragic actors in heroic roles

Example Sentences

It is the cothurnus which gives language an heroic stature.

From Among My Books Second Series by Lowell, James Russell

The buskin was the Greek cothurnus, a boot with high heels, designed to add stature and dignity to the tragic actor.

From Six Centuries of English Poetry Tennyson to Chaucer by Baldwin, James

The tragic actors wore the crepida, corresponding to the cothurnus, and a heavy toga, which in the praetexta had the purple border giving its name to the species.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 6 "Dodwell" to "Drama" by Various

In their tragedies they become heavy without grandeur, like Jonson, or mistake the stilts for the cothurnus, as Chapman and Webster too often do.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 02, No. 08, June 1858 by Various

But is it just to exact the severity of the tragical cothurnus in light works of this description?

From Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature by Black, John