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

But, for right walking, choose The fine, The strict cothurnus, Muse.

From Collected Poems Volume One by Noyes, Alfred

The cothurnus of Aeschylus has, as it were, the weight of iron: gigantic figures stalk in upon it.

From Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature by Black, John

Agar, in peplos and cothurnus, recited the strophes once more.

From An Englishman in Paris Notes and Recollections by Albert D.

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