epithalamium

[ep-uh-thuh-ley-mee-uhm]

noun

plural

epithalamiums, epithalamia 

1. epithalamion.

epithalamium

/ ˌɛpɪθəˈleɪmɪəm, ˌɛpɪθəˈlæmɪk /

noun

1. a poem or song written to celebrate a marriage; nuptial ode

Other Word Forms

• epithalamic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of epithalamium¹

C17: from Latin, from Greek epithalamion marriage song, from thalamos bridal chamber

Example Sentences

The New Yorker declared that Mr. Greenberg was to wedding cakes “what Henry Purcell was to wedding music or Edmund Spenser to the epithalamium” — that is, a wedding song or poem.

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In fact, there’s a special term for a wedding poem: epithalamium.

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Was it an epithalamium praising a forthcoming marriage or a seduction lyric drawing on the classic argument of “carpe diem”— seize the day, live for the moment?

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She wrote, it is believed, at least nine books of odes, together with epithalamia, epigrams, elegies, and monodies.

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By the ablest interpreters and critics of Holy Scripture, the Song of Solomon has generally been regarded as an epithalamium, or nuptial canticle.

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