coronach

[ kawr-uh-nuhkh, kor- ]

noun

1. (in Scotland and Ireland) a song or lamentation for the dead; dirge.

coronach

/ ˈkɒrənəx; -nək /

noun

1. a dirge or lamentation for the dead

Word History and Origins

Origin of coronach¹

1490–1500; < Scots Gaelic corranach, Irish coránach dirge

Word History and Origins

Origin of coronach¹

C16: from Scottish Gaelic corranach; related to Irish rānadh a crying

Example Sentences

In the 1980s, I discovered that Lewis Carroll's first ever published works were two poems in the Whitby Gazette – Coronach and the Lady of the Ladle – verified by the Lewis Carroll Society.

From The Guardian

Come, pipes, sound A crooning coronach round, Till hill and hollow glen and shadowed lake o’erflow With welling music of our woe.

From Project Gutenberg

On one grave a young woman was rocking herself to and fro, wailing with a sound like the Highland coronach, but longer and more despairing.

From Project Gutenberg

Who would have thought that Peter of Arrandoon would have lived to play his own coronach?”

From Project Gutenberg

You might have imagined while Rory played that you saw his countrymen dancing at a wake, and heard even their wild “Hooch!” but at the same time you could not help fancying you saw the mourners crooning over the coffin, and heard the broken-hearted wail of the coronach.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• elegy
• hymn