Epinikion

/ˌɛpɪˈnɪkiən/ noun

Definition

A victory song or ode celebrating triumph, particularly in ancient Greek athletic and military contexts; an alternate form of epinicion.

Etymology

From Greek epinikion, from epi- 'upon' + nike 'victory.' This is a variant transliteration of the Greek term epinicion reflecting different scholarly conventions.

Kelly Says

The same ancient Greek word can be spelled multiple ways in English because Greek uses different letters—'epinicion' and 'epinikion' are twins separated at transliteration! Scholars gradually standardized these, but both forms still appear in old books.

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