macabre

macabre
\ \ [15] Macabre is now used generally for ‘ghastly’, but that is a late 19th-century development. It originated in the very specific phrase dance macabre, which denoted a dance in which a figure representing death enticed people to dance with him until they dropped down dead.
\ \ This was borrowed from French danse macabre, which was probably an alteration of an earlier danse Macabé. This in turn was a translation of medieval Latin chorea Machabaeorum ‘dance of the Maccabees’, which is thought originally to have referred to a stylized representation of the slaughter of the Maccabees (a Jewish dynasty of biblical times) in a medieval miracle play.

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • macabre — [ makabr ] adj. • danse macabre, danse MacabréXIVe; probablt d un n. pr. Macabé→ macchabée 1 ♦ Danse macabre : représentation allégorique de la Mort entraînant dans une ronde des personnages de toutes conditions. 2 ♦ (1842) Qui a pour objet les… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Macabre — is a quality of certain artistic or literary works, characterized by a grim or atmosphere. In these works, there is an emphasis on the details and symbols of death. Macabre themes are often preoccupations in the Goth subculture. Themes are… …   Wikipedia

  • Macabre — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Macabre es un álbum de Dir en grey lanzado en Septiembre 20, 2000. es el primer disco de la banda en colaboración con Firewall de Free Will y Sony Music Entertainment Japan. Track listing # Título Duración Música* 1… …   Wikipedia Español

  • macabre — (m[.a]*k[aum] b[ e]r) adj. 1. portraying human injury or death in a way so as to inspiring shock or horror; gruesome; ghastly; as, macabre tortures conceived by madmen. [Also spelled {macaber}.] Syn: ghastly, grisly, gruesome, lurid. [WordNet… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Macabre — Allgemeine Informationen Genre(s) Death Metal Gründung 1985 Website http://www.mindmelt.com/macabr …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • macabre — (adj.) early 15c., from O.Fr. (danse) Macabré (dance) of Death (1376), probably a translation of M.L. (Chorea) Machabæorum, lit. dance of the Maccabees (leaders of the Jewish revolt against Syro Hellenes; see MACCABEES (Cf. Maccabees)). The… …   Etymology dictionary

  • macabre — ► ADJECTIVE ▪ disturbing and horrifying because concerned with death and injury. ORIGIN French, from Danse Macabre dance of death , perhaps from Macabé a Maccabee (a member of a 2nd century BC Jewish sect led by Judas Maccabaeus), with reference… …   English terms dictionary

  • macabre — [məkä′bərmə käb′rə, mə käb′, məkä′bər] adj. [Fr < OFr ( danse) Macabré, (dance) of death, prob. altered < ML ( Chorea) Machabaeorum, lit., dance of the Maccabees (see MACCABEES): semantic connection obscure] grim and horrible; gruesome;… …   English World dictionary

  • Macabre — (fr., spr. Makaber), 1) in England u. Frankreich ehemals kirchliche Maskerade; 2) der Todtentanz, s.d …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Macabre — (Danse m., franz., spr. dangß makābr ), soviel wie Totentanz (s. d.) …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Macabre — (Danse M., spr. dangs makahbr), s. Totentanz …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”