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==Origin==
[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._1100-1500_.09THE_MIDDLE_ENGLISH_PERIOD Middle English], from Medieval Latin ''comoedia'', from [[Latin]], [[drama]] with a [[happy]] ending, from [[Greek]] kōmōidia, from kōmos revel + aeidein to [[sing]]
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/14th_century 14th Century]
The word "comedy" is derived from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_language Classical Greek] κωμῳδία kōmōidía, which is a compound either of κῶμος kômos (revel) or κώμη kṓmē (village) and ᾠδή ōidḗ ([[singing]]); it is possible that κῶμος itself is derived from κώμη, and originally meant a village revel. The adjective "comic" (Greek κωμικός kōmikós), which strictly means that which relates to comedy is, in [[modern]] usage, generally confined to the sense of "[[laughter]]-provoking". Of this, the word came into modern usage through the Latin ''comoedia'' and Italian ''commedia'' and has, over time, passed through various shades of [[meaning]].
==Definitions==
*1a : a medieval [[narrative]] that ends [[happily]] <Dante's Divine Comedy>
:b : a literary work written in a comic style or treating a comic [[theme]]
*2a : a [[drama]] of light and amusing character and typically with a happy ending
:b : the [[genre]] of dramatic [[literature]] dealing with the comic or with the serious in a light or [[satirical]] [[manner]] — compare [[tragedy]]
*3: a ludicrous or farcical [[event]] or [[series]] of events <a comedy of errors>
*4a : the comic element <the comedy of many [[life]] situations>
:b : [[humorous]] [[entertainment]] <nightclub comedy>
==Description==
'''Comedy''' (from the Greek: κωμῳδία, kōmōidía), in the contemporary [[meaning]] of the term, is any [[discourse]] or work generally intended to be [[humorous]] or to amuse by inducing laughter, especially in [[theatre]], television, [[film]] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand-up_comedy stand-up comedy]. This sense of the term must be carefully distinguished from its [[academic]] one, namely the comic theatre, whose [[Western]] origins are found in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece Ancient Greece]. In the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athenian_democracy Athenian democracy], the public [[opinion]] of [[voters]] was influenced by the political satire performed by the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comic_poets comic poets] at the theaters. The theatrical [[genre]] can be simply described as a dramatic [[performance]] which pits two societies against each other in an amusing agon or [[conflict]]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Frye Northrop Frye] famously depicted these two opposing sides as a "Society of Youth" and a "Society of the Old", but this [[dichotomy]] is seldom described as an entirely satisfactory [[explanation]]. A later view characterizes the essential agon of comedy as a [[struggle]] between a relatively powerless youth and the societal [[conventions]] that pose [[obstacles]] to his [[hopes]]. In this struggle, the [[youth]] is understood to be constrained by his lack of social [[authority]], and is left with little [[choice]] but to take recourse in ruses which engender very dramatic [[irony]] which provokes [[laughter]].
[[Satire]] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_satire political satire] use ironic comedy to portray persons or social [[institutions]] as ridiculous or [[corrupt]], thus alienating their [[audience]] from the object of humor. Satire is a type of comedy. [[Parody]] subverts popular genres and forms, using certain ironic [[changes]] to [[critique]] those forms from within (though not necessarily in a [[condemning]] way). [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screwball_comedy Screwball comedy] derives its humor largely from bizarre, [[surprising]] (and improbable) situations or characters. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_comedy Black comedy] is defined by dark humor that makes light of so-called dark or [[evil]] elements in human nature. Similarly [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilet_humor scatological humor], sexual humor, and race humor create comedy by violating social conventions or [[taboos]] in comic ways. A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comedy_of_manners comedy of manners] typically takes as its subject a particular part of [[society]] (usually upper class society) and uses humor to [[parody]] or [[satirize]] the [[behavior]] and mannerisms of its members. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romantic_comedy Romantic comedy] is a popular genre that depicts burgeoning [[romance]] in humorous terms and focuses on the [[foibles]] of those who are falling in [[love]].[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comedy]
==See also==
*'''''[[Tragedy]]'''''
[[Category: Theatre]]
==Origin==
[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._1100-1500_.09THE_MIDDLE_ENGLISH_PERIOD Middle English], from Medieval Latin ''comoedia'', from [[Latin]], [[drama]] with a [[happy]] ending, from [[Greek]] kōmōidia, from kōmos revel + aeidein to [[sing]]
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/14th_century 14th Century]
The word "comedy" is derived from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_language Classical Greek] κωμῳδία kōmōidía, which is a compound either of κῶμος kômos (revel) or κώμη kṓmē (village) and ᾠδή ōidḗ ([[singing]]); it is possible that κῶμος itself is derived from κώμη, and originally meant a village revel. The adjective "comic" (Greek κωμικός kōmikós), which strictly means that which relates to comedy is, in [[modern]] usage, generally confined to the sense of "[[laughter]]-provoking". Of this, the word came into modern usage through the Latin ''comoedia'' and Italian ''commedia'' and has, over time, passed through various shades of [[meaning]].
==Definitions==
*1a : a medieval [[narrative]] that ends [[happily]] <Dante's Divine Comedy>
:b : a literary work written in a comic style or treating a comic [[theme]]
*2a : a [[drama]] of light and amusing character and typically with a happy ending
:b : the [[genre]] of dramatic [[literature]] dealing with the comic or with the serious in a light or [[satirical]] [[manner]] — compare [[tragedy]]
*3: a ludicrous or farcical [[event]] or [[series]] of events <a comedy of errors>
*4a : the comic element <the comedy of many [[life]] situations>
:b : [[humorous]] [[entertainment]] <nightclub comedy>
==Description==
'''Comedy''' (from the Greek: κωμῳδία, kōmōidía), in the contemporary [[meaning]] of the term, is any [[discourse]] or work generally intended to be [[humorous]] or to amuse by inducing laughter, especially in [[theatre]], television, [[film]] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand-up_comedy stand-up comedy]. This sense of the term must be carefully distinguished from its [[academic]] one, namely the comic theatre, whose [[Western]] origins are found in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece Ancient Greece]. In the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athenian_democracy Athenian democracy], the public [[opinion]] of [[voters]] was influenced by the political satire performed by the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comic_poets comic poets] at the theaters. The theatrical [[genre]] can be simply described as a dramatic [[performance]] which pits two societies against each other in an amusing agon or [[conflict]]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Frye Northrop Frye] famously depicted these two opposing sides as a "Society of Youth" and a "Society of the Old", but this [[dichotomy]] is seldom described as an entirely satisfactory [[explanation]]. A later view characterizes the essential agon of comedy as a [[struggle]] between a relatively powerless youth and the societal [[conventions]] that pose [[obstacles]] to his [[hopes]]. In this struggle, the [[youth]] is understood to be constrained by his lack of social [[authority]], and is left with little [[choice]] but to take recourse in ruses which engender very dramatic [[irony]] which provokes [[laughter]].
[[Satire]] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_satire political satire] use ironic comedy to portray persons or social [[institutions]] as ridiculous or [[corrupt]], thus alienating their [[audience]] from the object of humor. Satire is a type of comedy. [[Parody]] subverts popular genres and forms, using certain ironic [[changes]] to [[critique]] those forms from within (though not necessarily in a [[condemning]] way). [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screwball_comedy Screwball comedy] derives its humor largely from bizarre, [[surprising]] (and improbable) situations or characters. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_comedy Black comedy] is defined by dark humor that makes light of so-called dark or [[evil]] elements in human nature. Similarly [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilet_humor scatological humor], sexual humor, and race humor create comedy by violating social conventions or [[taboos]] in comic ways. A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comedy_of_manners comedy of manners] typically takes as its subject a particular part of [[society]] (usually upper class society) and uses humor to [[parody]] or [[satirize]] the [[behavior]] and mannerisms of its members. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romantic_comedy Romantic comedy] is a popular genre that depicts burgeoning [[romance]] in humorous terms and focuses on the [[foibles]] of those who are falling in [[love]].[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comedy]
==See also==
*'''''[[Tragedy]]'''''
[[Category: Theatre]]
