Word of the Week: February 26, 2001
Scenic Tents

In sixth-century Greece, the poet Thespis used a disguise and acted when he presented his work. He had a skene, or tent, in which he changed his costumes. Later on, more actors were added and the original tent evolved into a building with an area in front of it, and so Greek drama was born. The building, in spite of its being made of wood or even stone, was still the skene, however, and the area in front of it was the proskenion ("before the tent"). We get words like scene, scenery, and tent from skene, and our theaters still have a proscenium. So if you ever set the scene for a story, you are etymologically pitching a tent.

Words of the Week are written by Dr. Jacques A. Bailly.