ῥαψῳδός

A. reciter of Epic poems, sts. applied to the bard who recited his own poem, as to Hesiod, Nicocl. ap. Sch.Pi. N. 2.2 (v. infr.); but usu., professional reciters, esp. of the poems of Homer, Hdt. 5.67, Pl. Ion 530c, etc.: also ῥ. κύων, ironically, of the Sphinx who chanted her riddle, S. OT 391. (Prob. from ῥάπτω, ἀοιδή; Hes. Fr. 265 speaks of himself and Homer as ἐν νεαροῖς ὕμνοις ῥάψαντες ἀοιδήν, and Pi. N. 2.2 calls Epic poets ῥαπτῶν ἐπέων ἀοιδοί: not from ῥάβδος (cf. ῥάβδος 1.6) as if ῥαβδῳδός (Eust. 6.24, ῥαβδῳδία ib.16).)