antiphona

Forms

antiphōna f (genitive antiphōnae); first declension^[1] It is often spelled antefana, always so in Gregory of Tours and Benedict's Rule.^[2] Cassian has a neuter plural antiphōna.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀντίφωνα (antíphōna, “responses”), the neuter plural of ἀντίφωνος (antíphōnos, “sounding in answer”),^[1][4] from ἀντί (antí, “in return”) and φωνή (phōnḗ, “voice, sound”).^[1][5][4] Isidore of Seville explains that the Greek name means “answering voice”, two choirs singing in turn.^[6][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is the pilgrim Egeria, who writes of saying psalms and antiphons.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

In the liturgy it named a chant made of psalms or hymns and sung alternately by two choirs, at the hours, at mass and in other rites.^[7][8] Cassian, Benedict's Rule and Gregory of Tours use it,^[2][3] and a sermon calls the antiphon of the mass what was commonly called the introit.^[2] Medieval writers derive the name from ⟨anti⟩ “against” and the Greek word for sound.^[7]

Old English took the Late Latin form antefana as antefn, which became English anthem; antiphon, from about 1500, is a later borrowing of the same word.^[4][5] Italian antifona continues it.^[9]

Timeline

• after 384 AD – Egeria writes of psalms and antiphons.^[2][5]
• c. 360–c. 435 AD – Cassian uses it.^[2][5]
• 529 AD – Benedict's Rule prescribes psalms with antiphons.^[2][5]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville explains the name.^[6][2][5]
• c. 1500 – English antiphon is borrowed from it.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Ecclesiastical Latin) An antiphon, a chant of psalms or hymns sung alternately by two choirs.^{[2][7][8][10]}

Related words

• psalmus
• English anthem
• English antiphon

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911)., p. 6.19.7
7. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
10. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson