dissonantia

Forms

dissonantia f (genitive dissonantiae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dissonāns, the present participle of dissonō (“to sound discordantly, differ”), with the abstract suffix -ia.^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Jerome, in a translation of Origen's homilies on Ezekiel, uses it of the differences between voices.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Late Latin it named, properly, a harsh, unpleasant sound: Boethius defines dissonance as the rough and disagreeable meeting of two sounds, the opposite of consonantia.^[2][3] Far more often it meant discrepancy or disagreement, of bodies and elements (Claudianus Mamertus) and above all of writings, such as the apparent contradictions between the gospels discussed by Augustine and Rufinus.^[2][5] Justinian's Code uses it with contrarium and discordiae.^[2]

Medieval Latin kept both strands: disagreement or contradiction and a dispute,^[6] and in music theory dissonance, a discord or a successive interval.^[7][8] English took dissonance in the early 15th century, from Old French and directly from Medieval Latin.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 383–420 AD – Jerome uses it of differing voices.^[2][9]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of apparent disagreement between the gospels.^[2][9]
• first half of the 5th century AD – Claudianus Mamertus uses it of the discord of the elements.^[2][5][9]
• early 15th century – English borrows it as dissonance.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (music) Dissonance, a harsh combination of sounds.^[2][3][7]
2. Discrepancy, disagreement, inconsistency.^[5][2][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) A dispute, controversy.^[6]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b 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
8. ^ Lexicon musicum Latinum medii aevi (1992–), Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften; online ed. Wörterbuchnetz
9. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de