Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·german ·1870s
Leitmotif
from Leitmotiv
- Meaning
- Leading motif — a recurring theme in music or narrative.
- Source word
- Leitmotiv
- Route into English
- Wagnerian opera criticism; broadened to literary and cultural analysis by 1900.
- Arrived
- 1870s
English borrows.
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