Latin word meaning "the praise of a person or thing"
Encomium (pl.:encomia) is aLatin word deriving from theAncient Greekenkomion (ἐγκώμιον), meaning "the praise of a person or thing."[1] Another Latin equivalent islaudatio, a speech in praise of someone or something.
Originally it was the song sung by thechorus at the κῶμος, or festal procession, held at thePanhellenic Games in honour of the victor, either on the day of his victory or on its anniversary. The word came afterwards to denote any song written in celebration of distinguished persons, and in later times any spoken or writtenpanegyric whatever.[2]
Encomium also refers to several distinct aspects ofrhetoric:
- A general category oforatory
- A method within rhetoricalpedagogy
- Afigure of speech praising a person or thing, but occurring on a smaller scale than an entire speech
- The eighth exercise in theprogymnasmata series
- A literary genre that included five elements: prologue, birth and upbringing, acts of the person's life, comparisons used to praise the subject, and an epilogue[3]
- Thebasilikos logos (imperial encomium), a formal genre in the Byzantine empire
The classical model of theencomium typically followed the form:
- Exordium: Call the audience to virtue and rouse them to imitation of the thing praised.
- Praise the subject's "stock," including their people, country, ancestors, and parents.
- Praise the subject's education, artistic talent, and training in laws.
- Praise the subject's deeds, such as their excellencies of mind, body, and fortune.
- Favorably compare the subject to another figure commonly understood to be virtuous or praiseworthy.
- Conclude with an exhortation or final emulation.[4]
- ^ἐγκώμιον.Liddell, Henry George;Scott, Robert;A Greek–English Lexicon at thePerseus Project
- ^Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Encomion
- ^Jerome H. Neyrey, Encomium vs Vituperation: Contrasting Portraits of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel,https://www3.nd.edu/~jneyrey1/encomium-article.html
- ^"Silva Rhetoricae: The Forest of Rhetoric".rhetoric.byu.edu. Retrieved2025-11-12.
- ^David E. Garland, Baker Exegetical Commentary, 1 Corinthians, 606, based on the work of Sigountos.
The dictionary definition ofencomium at Wiktionary
The dictionary definition ofencomium at Wiktionary