dramatis personae

English

Alternative forms

• dramatis personæ (archaic)

Etymology

From Latin dramatis personae (literally “characters of the play”).

Noun

dramatis personae pl (normally plural, singular dramatis persona)

1. A list of characters in a play or story, usually arranged in order of first appearance.
   • 1945, Robert Frost, A Masque of Reason:

     (The Devil enters like a sapphire wasp
     That flickers mica wings. He lifts a hand
     To brush away a disrespectful smile.
     Job’s wife sits up.)
     Job’s Wife ➢ Well, if we aren’t all here.
     Including me, the only Dramatis
     Personae needed to enact the problem.

   • 2015 February 18, Yanis Varoufakis, “Yanis Varoufakis: How I became an erratic Marxist”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Marx created a narrative populated by workers, capitalists, officials and scientists who were history’s dramatis personae.

Translations

list of characters

• German: Dramatis Personae pl
• Russian: действующие лица n pl (dejstvujuščije lica)