canticle (n.)

"short hymn," early 13c., from Latin canticulum "a little song," diminutive of canticum "song" (also a scene in Roman comedy enacted by one person and accompanied by music and dancing), from cantus "song, a singing; bird-song," from past participle stem of canere "to sing" (from PIE root *kan- "to sing").

also from early 13c.

Entries linking to canticle

*kan-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to sing."

It forms all or part of: accent; cant (n.1); cantabile; cantata; cantatrice; canticle; canto; cantor; canzone; Carmen; chanson; chant; chanter; chanteuse; chanty; chanticleer; charm; concent; descant; enchant; enchantment; hen; incantation; incentive; oscine; precentor; recant.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Greek eikanos "cock," literally "bird who sings (for sunrise);" Latin cantare, canere "to sing;" Old Irish caniaid "sings," Welsh canu "sing;" Old English hana "cock."

Trends of canticle

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to Explore

Magnificat

the Virgin's hymn (Luke i.46, in Vulgate Magnificat anima mea dominum "My soul doth magnify the Lord") which is used as a canticle...

verse

English (replacing Old English fers, an early West Germanic borrowing directly from Latin), "line or section of a psalm or canticle...

anthem

Middle English anteme, from Old English ontemn, antefn, "a composition (in prose or verse) sung in alternate parts," from Late Latin antefana, from Greek antiphona "verse response" (see antiphon). The sense evolved to "a composition (usually from Scripture) set to sacred music" (

hymn

"religious song," c. 1000, from Old French ymne and Old English ymen, both from Late Latin hymnus "song of praise," from Greek hymnos "festive song or ode in praise of gods or heroes" (also sometimes of mournful songs), used in Septuagint to translate several Hebrew words meaning

harangue

"a public address; a formal, vehement, or passionate address;" also "any formal or pompous speech; a declamation; a tirade," mid-15c., arang, Scottish (in English from c. 1600), from French harangue "a public address" (14c.), from Old Italian aringo "public square, platform; pulp

system

1610s, "the whole creation, the universe," from Late Latin systema "an arrangement, system," from Greek systēma "organized whole, a whole compounded of parts," from stem of synistanai "to place together, organize, form in order," from syn- "together" (see syn-) + root of histanai

patsy

"fall guy, victim of a deception," by 1903, of uncertain origin, possibly an alteration of Italian pazzo "madman" (see patch (n.2)), or south Italian dialectal paccio "fool." Another theory traces it to Patsy Bolivar, character created by Billy B. Van in an 1890s vaudeville skit

priest

Middle English prēst, "cleric ranking below a bishop and above a deacon, a parish priest," from Old English preost, which probably was shortened from the older Germanic form represented by Old Saxon and Old High German prestar, Old Frisian prestere, all from Vulgar Latin *prester

plunge

late 14c., plungen, "to put, throw, or thrust violently into; immerse, submerge," also intransitive, from Old French plongier "plunge, sink into; plunge into, dive in" (mid-12c., Modern French plonger), from Vulgar Latin *plumbicare "to heave the lead," from Latin plumbum "lead"

Easter

Old English Easterdæg, "Easter day," from Eastre (Northumbrian Eostre), from Proto-Germanic *austron-, "dawn," also possibly the name of a goddess whose feast was celebrated in Eastermonað (the Anglo-Saxon month corresponding with April), from *aust- "east, toward the sunrise" (c

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updated on September 28, 2017

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Dictionary entries near canticle

cantatrice

canteen

canter

Canterbury

cantharides

canticle

cantilever

cantina

canting

cantle

canto