"song of lamentation," 1630s, from Greek threnodia "lamentation," from threnos "dirge, lament" + oide "ode" (see ode). Greek threnos probably is from PIE imitative root *dher- (3) "to drone, murmur, hum;" cognates: Old English dran "drone," Gothic drunjus "sound," Greek tenthrene "a kind of wasp."