consonantia

Forms

cōnsonantia f (genitive cōnsonantiae); first declension^[1][2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin cōnsonāns (“sounding together”) + -ia,^[1] from the present participle of cōnsonō (“to sound together”).^[3][4] That verb is made of con- and sonō (“to sound”),^[5] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Indo-European *suonh₂-(e)ie/o- (“to resound”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Vitruvius, in the 1st century BC, uses it in his account of music, for the concords of notes and the harmony of the voice.^[2][4][6]

Semantic evolution

It was first a term of music, a concord or consonance;^[1][2] Censorinus defines harmony as consonantia.^[2][3] It was also used of the harmony of spoken sounds,^[1] and figuratively, from Tertullian on, for agreement, as of the Scriptures with one another.^[4][2][7]

In medieval music theory it was the consonant interval, judged good by mathematical proportion or by the ear, and more widely harmony and sounding together.^[8] British writers also used it for the harmony of the heavenly spheres and for rhyme,^[9] and Thomas Aquinas uses it for agreement in general, beside convenientia and harmonia.^[10] Italian consonanza continues the word.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it, also in the plural, for musical concords.^[2][4][6]
• c. 165 AD – Aulus Gellius speaks of the consonance of neighbouring voices.^[4][7][6]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it for the agreement of the Scriptures.^[4][7][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (music) A concord, consonance.^[1][2][4]
2. Harmony of spoken sounds.^[1]
3. (figurative) Agreement, accord.^{[4][2][7][11]}
4. (Medieval Latin, music) A consonant interval; harmonic relation of notes.^[8]
5. (Medieval Latin) The harmony of the heavenly spheres.^[9]
6. (Medieval Latin) Rhyme.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Lexicon musicum Latinum medii aevi (1992–), Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften; online ed. Wörterbuchnetz
9. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
10. ^ Schütz, Ludwig (1895), Thomas-Lexikon, 2nd ed., Paderborn: F. Schöningh
11. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill