unisonus

Forms

ūnisonus (feminine ūnisona, neuter ūnisonum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin ūnus (“one”) + sonus (“sound”).^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Boethius' treatise on music, in the first quarter of the 6th century AD, of notes of the same pitch: “Vocum aliae sunt unisonae, aliae minime” (“some notes are of one sound, others are not”).^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

In Boethius it means having the same pitch, whether low or high;^[5][3] Georges renders it as monotonous, uniform.^[2] Medieval music theory kept the word, also for notes sounding alike at the octave,^[5] and in British medieval Latin it was used as a noun for the relation between two notes of the same pitch.^[7] Du Cange glosses it “of the same sound”, comparing Italian unisono,^[8] which Conte derives from this Late Latin word.^[4]

Timeline

• 500–525 – Boethius uses it of notes of the same pitch in his work on music.^[5][6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (music) Having the same pitch; in unison.^[5][3][7]
2. Of uniform sound, monotonous.^[2][7]
3. (Medieval Latin, music) Sounding alike at the octave.^[5]
4. (Medieval Latin, music) As a masculine noun: unison, the relation between two notes of the same pitch.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
4. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f Lexicon musicum Latinum medii aevi (1992–), Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften; online ed. Wörterbuchnetz
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d 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. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre