buskin (BUS-kin) noun

   1. A thick-soled, laced boot, reaching to knee or calf, worn by actors
      of ancient Greek and Roman tragedies. Also known as cothurnus.

   2. A tragic drama.

[Perhaps from Middle French brousequin.]

Words often form and come to acquire new meaning for peculiar reasons.
Because those big shoes were often worn by tragedians, we came to
refer to a tragedy itself as a buskin. A counterpart of buskin is
sock (a comedy) after soccus, a lightweight low shoe worn by Greek
and Roman comic actors.                                         -Anu

   "`My vein,' wrote Corneille, `often combines the lofty buskin with
   the comic sock, and ... pleases the audience by striking contrasting
   notes.'"
   Linda Winer, Corneille With Kushner's Help, Newsday (New York),
   Jan 20, 1994.

This week's theme: words from theater.

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Pronunciation:
http://wordsmith.org/words/buskin.wav
http://wordsmith.org/words/buskin.ram