Editing Rhapsode (section)

==Etymology and usage==
The term ''rhapsode'' is derived from ''rhapsōidein'' (ῥαψῳδεῖν), meaning "to sew songs [together]".<ref>Ridderstrøm, H. (2006). ''Tekstsamling I: litteraturhistorie: Litteraturhistoriske tekstpraksiser''. Oslo: Høgskolen i Oslo</ref> This word illustrates how the oral epic poet, or ''rhapsode'', would build a repertoire of diverse [[myth]]s, tales and jokes to include in the content of the epic poem. Thus it was possible, through experience and improvisatory skills, for him to shift the content of the [[epic poetry|epos]] according to the preferred taste of a specific location's audience. However, the outer framework of the epic would remain virtually the same in every "singing", thus securing the projection of underlying themes such as of morality or honour. The performance of epic poetry was called in classical Greek ''rhapsōidia'' (ῥαψῳδία), and its performer ''rhapsōidos''. The word does not occur in the early epics, which use the word '''''[[aoidos]]''''' (ἀοιδός "singer") for performers in all genres, including this one. It  has been argued by [[Walter Burkert]] that ''rhapsōidos'' was by definition a performer of a fixed, written text.<ref>E.g. {{Citation | surname =Burkert | given=Walter | author-link=Walter Burkert | chapter=The making of Homer in the 6th century BC: rhapsodes versus Stesichorus | title=Papers on the Amasis Painter and his world | publisher=Getty Museum | place= Malibu | year=1987 | pages=43–62 }}; {{Citation | surname=Graziosi | given=Barbara | author-link=Barbara Graziosi |title=Inventing Homer: the early reception of epic | publisher=Cambridge University Press | place=Cambridge | year=2002 }}.</ref>

The word ''rhapsōidos'' was in use as early as [[Pindar]] (522–443 BC), who implies two different explanations of it, "singer of stitched verse", and "singer with the staff". Of these the first is etymologically correct; the second was suggested by the fact, for which there is early evidence, that the singer was accustomed to hold a staff (ῥάβδος ''rhabdos'') in his hand, perhaps, like the sceptre in the Homeric assembly, as a symbol of the right to a hearing or to "emphasize the rhythm or to give grandeur to their gestures".<ref>Bahn, Eugene, and Margaret L. Bahn. ''A History of Oral Interpretation.'' Minneapolis, MN: Burgess, 1979, p.7</ref> The etymological meaning is interesting because it is an exact metaphor for what [[Oral poetry|oral narrative poets]] do: they stitch together formulas, lines and [[type-scene]]s in the course of performance. There are indications in Pindar and other authors that oral epic was still a living and popular tradition in the early fifth century BC;<ref>{{Citation | surname=Dalby | given=Andrew | author-link=Andrew Dalby | title=[[Rediscovering Homer]] | publisher=Norton | place=New York, London | year=2006 | ISBN=0-393-05788-7 }}, pp. 157–168.</ref> all the later evidence, however, is that rhapsodes worked from written texts, and in some cases were compelled by law to do so.