How many words exist that have several meanings. For example, everyone knows that the word “star” can be associated with such concepts as a public person, a geometric figure, a celestial body. The ambiguous word “handle” associated with a door can also describe a part of a person’s body. And what associations does the word "lyre" cause? How many meanings does a given word have, and in what area of life is it used?
Meaning of the word “lyre” in music
The ancient plucked instrument was widely known in ancient times in Greece and Rome. Although at first he designated each instrument from the lyre family. In a narrow sense, it was a helis tool - the simplest and lightest in weight, made from tortoise shell. A musical lyre consists of several elements: a body (can be round or quadrangular), which connects to the crossbar with two handles, and strings that were previously made from sheep's intestines, stretched between the body and the crossbar.
Interestingly, there is another tool that bears the same name. It was distributed in Belarus and Ukraine. This is a reed tool called a wheeled lyre. She makes a more powerful, but at the same time monotonous and sad sound.
The meaning of the word "lyre" in the literature
How often, when studying literature, we hear concepts such as lyrics, lyric work and hero, but don’t think about where it came from and why it is so often mentioned by writers and poets. Of course, the meaning of the word “lyre” was borrowed from music through a metamorphic transference. When the musicians played the instrument, they sang songs, which directly connected poetry with this word, and after a while it began to mean a symbol of poetry and inspiration.
This word was very often used by Russian classics, including Pushkin and Nekrasov. For example, recall these two lines from a poem by A. S. Pushkin:
"And for a long time I will be so kind to the people,
What kind feelings I aroused with lyre. "
Of course, the poet does not write about a musical instrument, but about his work, with the help of which he conveys his thoughts and feelings to people. And so Nekrasov wrote in the work "Elegy":
"To arouse the people attention of the powers that be -
What more worthy would the lyre serve? "
Do not forget that in literature this word has a symbolist meaning, which was used by poets and contemporary artists. Lyra is a harmony of numbers, planets, elements.
Currency unit
The meaning of the word "lyre" can be interpreted as the monetary unit of Italy and Turkey. It denotes a coin of corresponding denomination. In Turkey, the first such coin was introduced in the 1870s, but in 2005 a new Turkish lira appeared.
However, it is worth clarifying that until recently in Italy, the Vatican, San Marino and Malta, the Italian lira was the official currency, until the countries switched to the euro. An interesting point is that in Lebanon, Syria, Israel, and until recently in Cyprus, there is also its own national currency, which is called the lyre in Greek and Turkish, but it is called the pound in Russian.
Where else is this word used
Many are familiar with the concept of lyre as a musical instrument or monetary currency, especially to those who travel a lot and collect coins. But not everyone knows that the lyre is present in almost every field of science and, for example, in astronomy means the constellation of the Northern Hemisphere. In zoology, this word was used to name a bird whose tail resembles a musical instrument, and they also called it a little animal that resembles a skunk found in North America. The word is also used for the name of a music festival in the Belgorod Region and as the name of a city in Uganda.