Some Problems in Musical Terminology

E. K. Borthwick

doi:10.1017/S0009838800010429

Some Problems in Musical Terminology

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 February 2009

E. K. Borthwick

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E. K. Borthwick: Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh

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In addition to the technical writers on music, a number of ancient authors, notably Plutarch and Athenaeus, have recorded several musical terms, either by way of illustrative material—Plutarch is particularly given to musical similes and metaphors—or in the course of anecdotes about music and musicians. As musical terminology in different ages contains words or phrases not only of general acceptance and familiarity, but other more ephemeral expressions which belong to the jargon of a narrower circle of executants and critics, it is possible that the musical significance of such words, when used in an apparently non-musical context, has escaped notice.

Type: Research Article
Information: The Classical Quarterly , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , May 1967 , pp. 145 - 157

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0009838800010429 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Classical Association 1967

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¹ Cf. my article in C.Q. N.s. ix (1959), 23 ff.Google Scholar, where I resuscitated(Ar, . Mu. 318Google Scholar) as a fifth-century musical term, and the new light shed on Plut, . Mor. 968Google Scholar ab by the recent discovery of avdrptiros as a musical term (see Browning, R., A Byzantine Treatise on Tragedy, in Geras: Studies presented to George Thomson on the occasion of his 60th birthday, p. 77).Google Scholar

² e.g. Strabo, . 610Athen. 348e3480c350d350f351c351d352a352bGoogle Scholar

³ Athen. 348 d.

⁴ 347f–352d. Cf. Gow, , Machon fr. xi.Google Scholar

⁵ One at 350a is curiously modern in its humour:

⁶ The anecdote immediately preceding this in Plutarch's essay—Diogenes the cynic's magnificent riposte to the Sinopeans—happens to make the identical point to Stratonicus' reply to the king of Pontus (Machon ap. Athen. 349 d).

¹ Mor. 1137a: cf. Athen. 638 a on Lysander the Sicyonian kitharist

² P. 274 Jan.

³ Cf. also thecomposed for the old citizen choruses before the rise of professionalism in [Arist.] Pr. 19. 15.

⁴ Cf. Phrynichus P.S. 59B.Plutarch, (Mor. 136 f)Google Scholar uses andof tempo. (Cf. Eucl, . Sect. Can. p. 148. 10 Jan.)Google Scholar

⁵ See p. 145, n. 1.

⁶ See p. 152, n. 4.

¹ The meaning of here is in dispute. Weil-Reinach translate ‘en employant des notes plus nombreuses et plus espacées’ and in their note add ‘répartis sur une grande échelle’ in explanation o Lasserre translates ‘en se servant de notes plus nombreuses par le fractionnement des intervalles’ and in his note on p. 64 n. 1 distinguishes polyphonie and polycordie, the division of sounds within the octave into smaller intervals, from panharmonie, the extension beyond a single octave. The sense of the verb—imply—ing a widely scattered distribution—certainly favours the former interpretation. The best parallel I can find is in a literary analogy: Demetrius, Eloc. 13 (‘flung carelessly together’—Rhys Roberts).

² There is a direct suggestion of moral looseness in its use in (e.g.) Xen, . Cyr. 1. 6. 34Google Scholar, Plut, . Mor. 266bGoogle Scholar, Arr, . An. 2. 5. 4.Google Scholar Cf. Luc, . Merc. Cond. 4, Alciphr. 1. 6. 2.Google Scholar

³ Compare the accusation against Timotheus: (Plut, . Mor. 795d;cf. 1144f).Google Scholar

⁴ For Seriphus as ‘the back of beyond’ see the passages quoted by Mayor on Juv. 10. 170. For Stratonicus' impatience with provincials, especially if they saw fit to argue on musical matters, see various anecdotes in Athen., e.g. 350c, 351 a, 352a.

⁵ Not dissimilar is the use of in Sch. Aid. Ar. Nu. 969, with reference to the of Phrynis.

¹ As Democritus (nicknamed Bastas) whose music was referred to in the term was also satirized for his vice (Luc, . Pseudol. 3, cf. Eup. fr. 81Google Scholar) it is possible that the proverb (Hsch. cf. Eust, . 1462. 34Google Scholar) involves the same sort of musical joke as Cratinus' reference (fr. 256) to Gnesippus, the composer of erotic songs Hence doubtless also the variant in the Suda's quotation from Ar, . Thesm. 57, where the effeminate compositions of Agathon are being described.Google Scholar

² Cf. the extensions to the compass of the kithara regularly attributed to Timotheus, whose are satirized by Pherecrates in the Cheiron (fr. 145. 27).

³ For further examples of these terms used of diction (e.g. Thucydides' style), see Ernesti, , Lex. Tech. Gr. Rhet., s.v.Google Scholar

⁴ Cf. Luc, . Nigr. 15Google Scholar

¹ Perhaps the nearest equivalent is of a ‘full-bodied’ wine in Athen. 27 c.

² Pinguis itself is cited of the male voice by Isid, . Etym. 3. 20. 12.Google Scholar

³ Cited elsewhere only from Philodemus (A.P. 5. 131Google Scholar), where (although there is an unsolved textual problem) it is used of a woman's coy or amorous cries. [Arist.] Aud. 803b24 has of a light voice which lends some support to Schweighäuser's view of the Clearchus fragment. See below, p. 155, on vocula.

⁴ As Pickard-Cambridge's citation of the passage (Dramatic Festivals of Athens, p. 77Google Scholar) implies. I do not mean to say that there was not a joke about the gluttony of choreutae, as was apparently implied in the use of by some comic poet (Com. Adesp. 1185K from Phot., Et. Mag., s.v. I take it that the joke turns on a double perversion of or the chorus was selected pharynx-wise, not because of their excellent voices, but their capacity for swallowing. Cf. of a glutton in Pher. fr. 32K. (The joke seems to have been too much for L.S.J., who give like a gulf. As I hesitate to emend to ‘gulp’ I presume they have confused and But the word has been a source of trouble to earlier lexicographers. It appears in the Suda in the form out of alphabetical order—or it used to appear there, for it has disappeared apparently without trace in Adler's edition. It survives hazardously in Hsch. in the form

¹ So, in connexion with dithyrambic poets and performers, the allusion in Nu. 338–9, with schol. When Merry in his edition translates as ‘slices of fine big conger’, I can only assume that he had such a passage as Plut, . Mor. 349 a in mind, as the is not a conger-eel.Google Scholar

² Cf. also Ael, . V.H. 12. 18.Google Scholar

³ Cf. Plin, . N.H. 34. 166–7 on Nero's experiments.Google Scholar

⁴ Cf. Alex, . Trail. 8, 2Google Scholar (Puschmann, ii. 351Google Scholar)and schol, . Nic, . Alex. 432,Google Scholar

⁵ Cf. Diosc, . Eup. I. 87Google Scholar

⁶ It is included in a list of foodstuffs in Pherecr. fr. 148. 3—from the Cheiron in which musical matters were prominent, and the list includes also which are mentioned among remedies for the voice in Gal. 13. 8, Cael. Aur, . de Morb. p. 379 Amman.Google Scholar

⁷ Cf. Isid, . De Eccl. Off. 2. 12Google Scholarantiqui pridie quam cantandum erat, cibis abstinebant, psallentes tamen legumine in causa vocis assidue utebantur. unde et cantores apud gentiles fabarii dicti sunt. Pliny, (N.H. 22. 141)Google Scholar quotes Varro as saying that beans voci prodesse. Cf. Gal, . 13. 12.Google Scholar

⁸ Cf. Ser. Sam, . Med. 15. 271 (who gives various remedies for the vocal organs).Google Scholar

⁹ Loc. cit., pp. 102–4.Google Scholar

¹⁰ Cf. (Argument, Or. 6).Google Scholar

¹¹ See below, p. 155.

¹² Cf. Gal, . 13. 12Google Scholar, Diosc, . Eup. 1. 85.Google Scholar

¹ Asserted by Pliny, (N.H. 22. 86)Google Scholar; denied by Page (Sappho and Alcaeus, p. 305Google Scholar, where the ref. to Powell's article should be C.Q. xx).Google Scholar

² An earlier tragedian Melanthius whose Aristophanes recalls in the Peace (805) is in the same passage described along with his brother as

³ Schweighäuser's emendation however, seems unnecessary if is retained (he emended also to ). Although one would expect me neuter is occasionally found in later Greek (see L.S.J., also Ps. Call, . p. 61. 2, 9Google Scholar; P. Mag. 13. 201, 204, 394, 545Google Scholar PubMed; Jo, . Mai, . p. 121. 12, 436. 20Google Scholar; are variants in the text of Philo, 1. 171. 20, 4. 20. 5Google Scholar, Clem, . Alex, . Strom. 5. 1. 33).Google Scholar

⁴ Leonteus' experience was the opposite of that recorded of another tragedian Hegesianax by Demetrius of Scepsis ap. Athen. 80 d, whose fine voice was attributed to his eighteen years' abstention from figs. This belief is repeated by Pliny, (N.H. 23. 120fici maturae.. voci contrariae intelliguntur)Google Scholar, who however adds (121) that when dry they are gutturi et faucibus magnifice utiles. Those interested in the foregoing details of vocal dietetics may like to consult a list of the foods and drinks considered by Viennese operatic celebrities of the 1860s to be beneficial before or during their performances, which vary from the two salted cucumbers of the tenor Labatt to Mile Braun-Brini and her glass of beer after the first act and bottle of Moët Crêmant Rosé before the duet in the fourth act of Les Huguenots (quoted by Holmes, Gordon, Vocal Physiology and Hygiene, pp. 212–13).Google Scholar

¹ Maia xv (1903), 10 f.Google Scholar, BICS xi (1904), 36.Google Scholar Of course has i, but a comic pun might pervert this, especially if his father's real name happened to resemble the word, or if there was such a name as Kinnaros, which was once regarded as attested in the proverb cited by Zenob, . (1. 31)Google Scholar (cf. Hsch. s.v.). But the Diegesis ix. 12 of Callim. corrects this to in explaining the proverb, and otherwise neither Kinnaros nor Kuntaros seems to occur.Google Scholar

² Copied by Pliny, , N.H. 16. 170–2, whose version does not, however, clarify matters.Google Scholar

³ I disagree with Lasserre (Plutarque, , De la Musique, p. 166Google Scholar) who thinks that theof Antigenidas consisted precisely in limiting his range to the natural octave, obturant le Iron de la syrinx (see p. 16 n. 1). Ifetc., refer to pitch I cannot think that the basic scale would be called ‘artificial’ and the overblown notes ‘natural’, but vice versa. That this is the natural interpretation is confirmed by the language of Plut, . Mor. 853 c, where Menander's lowering of the emotional tension after a flamboyant passage is compared to an aulos player who has first opened all the finger-holes, then, closing them,Google Scholar

⁴ The aulos acc. to an early lyricist (Stesichorus?) Fr. Adesp. 947b Page;Pind, . Ol. 7. 12Google Scholar, Isth. 4. 27Google Scholar PubMed, Pyth. 12. 19Google Scholar; itsPlut, . Afor. 1141cGoogle Scholar,713a; imitation of aulos technique on other instruments because Plat, . Rep. 399 dGoogle Scholar, cf. Leg. 700 d

⁵ So in the same passage. Cf. Düring on Eupolis, , fr. 110Google Scholar, Eranos xliii (1945), 196.Google Scholar On the stopping of strings in general, see Winnington-Ingram, , C.Q. N.s. vi (1956), 169 ff.CrossRef Google Scholar

⁶ Apart from pre-fourth-century passages quoted above, see in particular the innovations ascribed to Pronomus of Thebes (Athen, . 631c, Paus, . 9. 12. 5)Google Scholar. Such an instrument as the one (early fifth century?) found at Brauron (see Landels, , B.S.A. lviii [1963], 116–19Google Scholar) would hardly be called if limited to its natural notes. The evidence for introduction of the syrinx which, with Howard, (H.S.C.P. iv [1893], 32–35)Google Scholar I take to be the equivalent of the speaker-key of the modern clarinet, and would certainly facilitate the production of harmonics, is that it belonged to the period of the Megarian aulete Telephanes, contemporary of Demosthenes, who was averse to its use (Plut, . Mor. 1138a), in the way that instrumentalists of a later age have opposed the Boehm flute or the valve-horn.Google Scholar

¹ Reinach, in Daremberg–Saglio v, p. 318Google Scholar, takes it to be a tremolo (‘une manière particulière “d'envelopper” le son’); Dinse, M. (De Antigenida Thebano Musico, p. 53)Google Scholar writes ‘ein manierirtes, modulirtes Spiel, ut nostrates dicunt’. It is unfortunate that a clue to the nature of the earlier style involves an unsolved textual problem in Theophrastus (UMV: Aid.) For attempts to justify the corrupt word see Dinse, , op. cit. 50–52.Google Scholar Stephanus conjectured which would be entirely convincing if the word existed elsewhere. The adj. is used of the clear, piercing sound of the trumpet in Aesch, . Eum. 567Google Scholar (where it is to be noted that F Tri present the same corruption) and similarly in Philostr, . V.S. 1. 25 (ii. 52. 24)Google Scholar; of the crow of a cock in Luc, . Gall. 1Google Scholar, Ael, . V.H. 2. 44Google Scholar (cf. Alciphr, . 3. 48. 1Google Scholar); Chr, Dio. 2. 56–57Google Scholar uses it of virile music as opposed to Ael, . N.A. 6. 19 contrasts with Pliny seems to have had something quite unlike this in his text, however, as he gives quod erat illis theatrorum moribus utilius. Ace. to [Arist.] And. 801^b37 a harsh, clear sound is produced by aulos reeds which are (Prantl and During respectively for the corrupt i.e. firm, compact.Google Scholar

² Mention might be made here of Hesychius' It is impossible to determine if the wax referred to would be used to adjust intonation which was faulty through incorrect placing of the finger holes, or was a device to block, wholly or partially, certain finger holes for the performance of a work involving a particular scale or mode. I am not much enamoured of Garrod's emendation (C.R. xxxiv [1920], 135) in 1. 13 of the celebrated Pratinas fragment (708 Page). (The use of here is a strange, but apparently irrelevant, coincidence.)Google Scholar

³ Just as in terms like used of the voice, the connotations of clarity and pitch are not readily separable, although Aristotle (Top. 107^a13 ff.; cf. S.E. M. 6. 41) defines the ‘white’ voice as and distinguishes it from Candida and fasca of the voice are opposed in Quint, . 11. 3. 15Google Scholar, Plin, . N.H. 28. 58. Modern Italian uses voce bianca of the treble voice.Google Scholar

¹ A distinction of speaking or goes back to Arist, . Rhet. 3. 2. 4.Google Scholar

² Used of ranting actors in Dem, . 18. 262Google Scholar, Philostr, . V.S. 1. 18. 1.Google Scholar

³ In the Suda's entry (s.v.the verbdoes not seem to make much sense. The nearest parallel I have found is Eunapius fr. 54 (F.H.G. iv, p. 38) …but here the notion involves the shifting or ‘bringing round’ of the harmonia from one type to another. The verb in the Suda should probably beCf. id. s.v.(Schol. Ar. Nu. 969 hashere, the Aldine schol.Google Scholar

⁴ Poll, . 4. 82Foras the lowest note on aulos, see Arist. Met. 1093^b3.Google Scholar

⁵ Nero 6. His voice was(D.C. 62. 20), exigua et fusca (Suet, . Nero 20Google Scholar); cf. Philostr, . V.A. 4. 44, 5. 7.Google Scholar

⁶ Similarly Plut. (Mor. 510 e seems to have taken to mean concise, contracted. But see below, p. 156, n. 5.

⁷ Cf. the derivation ofin Athen. 308c(Also Plut, . Mor. 728 e.)Google Scholar

¹ etc. (the last glossedby Hsch.). I know of no discussion of the musical meaning of the word, which is not referred to in L.S.J., who fail to record also another strange term of the phonasci, the(see Hsch.).

² Cf. Ernesti, , Lex. Tech. Lat. Rhet., pp. 286–9Google Scholar, s.v. plasma; id., Lex. Tech. Graec. Rhet., pp. 268–70Google Scholar, s.v.for the general usage of this word.

³ For a similar metaphor, with the same sexual implications, cf. Ar, . Nu. 979Google Scholar

⁴ I am indebted to Professor E. Laugh ton for drawing my attention to this passage.

⁵ While the certae et severae notes correspond toof line 969. On the ‘formless flexibility’ and ‘tonal instability’ which characterized the ‘new music’ of the fifth century B.C., see Mrs. I. Henderson's comments in The New Oxford History of Music, i. 393 ff. I might mention here the view of M. Kokolakis (Lucian and the Tragic Performances in his Time [1960], p. 90Google Scholar) that Luc, . De Salt. 27means ‘in a tremolo voice, now high, now low’. But althoughand its compounds are frequently used of effeminate modulations and the like, I find such a meaning improbable here in view of the reflexive object, and the fact that Lucian himself (or his imitator) uses(De Salt. 5) and(Nero 7) of bodily contortions.Google Scholar

⁶ It is fair to add that Contopoulos gives as the modern Greek term for falsetto, but that treble notes are meant over and above artificiality of their production is signified by the prefixThe use of vocularum falsarum soni to translate falsetto in the treatise of Lehfeldt (1835) Nonnulla de vocis formatione, p. 64, is doubtless based on the Ciceronian expression.

¹ To which the Suda adds(Forcf. Sud. s.v. Plut, . Cleom. 16. 4Google Scholar, Ghr, Dio. 2. 30Google Scholar, Schol, . Ar. Ran. 1309.)Google Scholar

² In Gk.has approximately this meaning in Nicom, . p. 256. 2, 274. 17Google Scholar: cf. Quint, . 11. 3. 52Google Scholar. D. H., Comp. 14 hasof emasculated sound: cf. alsoof the breaking voice of the adolescent.Google Scholar

³ Cf. Lucian, (Bis. Ace. 31) where Rhetoric (personified) is accused ofGoogle Scholar

⁴ Fucatus, etc., appears frequently in Cicero—see Sandys's note on Orator 79. Cf. Lucr, . 1. 643–4 veraque constituunt quae belle tangere possunt / aures et lepido quae sunt Jucata sonore, where the editors seem to exaggerate the novelty of the expression.Google Scholar

⁵ Such a meaning would be appropriate also toin A.P. 7. 27. 3Google Scholar PubMed (Antip. Sid.) in an epigram addressed to Anacreon (cf. C.G.L. ii. 329. 24Google Scholarhie cicirmus, id est capilli) but the meaning of this adj. applied to sound is difficult to identify—see Gow-Page, , Gk. Anth., Hellenistic Epigrams, ii. 44, and cf. above p. 154, n. 6.Google Scholar

¹ Grube, G. M. A., A Greek Critic: Demetrius on Style, p. 141Google Scholar, with citations from other authors. See also the Ernesti lexica, svv.affectatio, and the recent discussion in Schenkeveld, , Studies in Demetrius on Style, pp. 86 f.Google Scholar