encomium

Meanings

1. Warm praise, especially a formal expression of such praise; a tribute.
2. A general category of oratory.
3. A method within rhetorical pedagogy.
4. The eighth exercise in the progymnasmata series.
5. A genre of literature that included five elements: prologue, birth and upbringing, acts of the person's life, comparisons used to praise the subject, and an epilogue.

Etymology

From Latin encōmium (“praise, eulogy”), from Ancient Greek ἐγκώμιον (enkṓmion, “laudatory ode, praise”), from ἐγκώμιος (enkṓmios, “of or pertaining to the victor”), from κῶμος (kômos, “festival, revel, ode”).