Comedy of Errors - Theatre Etymology - Part 33

When most people hear the phrase a comedy of errors, they probably think, "Oh, that's a Shakespeare play." They would be correct. However, the phrase has more of a meaning that just a title of a Shakespeare play. It means an event or a series of events with so many mistakes or errors made during them that it made the entire time ridiculous.

Sometimes the phrase is used to refer to a series of awkward missteps rather than out-right mistakes, although they are technically the same thing in this case. For those who would first say that the phrase came from the title of Shakespeare's play. In the play, a series of mistakes is what happens over the day it takes place. Shakespeare's play tells the story of two sets of identical twins who were separated at birth. Of course, this leads to a series of misunderstandings, especially since each identical twin bears the same name as the other and the only way the difference between them is known is that they are followed by "of city name."

Shakespeare's play was written in 1600. The word comedy comes from the Middle English word comedye which comes from the Medieval Latin word cōmēdia or the Latin word cōmoedia which comes from the Greek word kōmōidía. The Greek word kōmōidía is the equivalent to the Greek words kōmōid(ós) meaning comedian, and kômo(s) added to aoidós meaning merry-making added to singer. The word error comes from the Middle English word errour which comes from the Latin stem errōr-. By now, the phrase has been used to name other books, articles, and musical albums.

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