harmonicus

Forms

harmonicus (feminine harmonica, neuter harmonicum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἁρμονικός (harmonikós),^[1][2][3] from ἁρμονία (harmonía, “joining, fitting”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Varro (116–27 BC) is the first to use it, in De lingua Latina, of proportions that craftsmen observe in buildings and statues.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it is rare and means “according to natural proportion”: Pliny the Elder speaks of a harmonica ratio that makes nature agree with itself, and Martianus Capella of harmonious ringing.^[2][1][5] Medieval writers used it in philosophy for things well ordered by proportion, and in music for consonant, musical sounds and for music theory,^[6] and Niermeyer records it as a noun for a musician.^[7] English took harmonic from it in the 1560s, first meaning “relating to music”.^[8]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of proportions in the arts.^[4][3]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder speaks of a harmonica ratio in nature.^[2][3]
• 3rd quarter of the 10th century – Hrotsvitha describes the world as made of four elements held together by harmonic measure.^[6][3]
• 1560s – English borrows it as harmonic.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to harmony or natural proportion; well proportioned.^[1][9]
2. harmonious, sounding in agreement.^[2][5]
3. (Medieval Latin) Relating to music or music theory; consonant.^[6][10]
4. (Medieval Latin, as a noun) A musician.^[7]

Related words

• harmonia
• English harmonic

References

1. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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