This ;is one of the spelling bee words that I have been unable to find anywhere. It seems
simple enough, but I can find neither English nor Latin definition, though I found it in
many Latin quotations. I also found nothing for "clausulum". Who wants to put me down
by finding it?
from Hyperdictionary:
http://www.hyperdictionary.com/dictionary/clausulaclausulaNo definitions found for "clausula", perhaps you mean:
web1913: Clausular
Clausular1 entries found.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]
Clausular \Clau"su*lar\ (?; 135), a. [From L. clausula. See
{Clause}, n.]
Consisting of, or having, clauses. --Smart.
no put down, Bill. just digging like you.
should have remembered this, too, from my Conservatory days...
http://www-student.furman.edu/users/r/rkelley/clausula.htm
from OED online:
1. Mus. a. = CADENCE n. 4. b. (See quot. 1944.)
1740 in GRASSINEAU Mus. Dict. 1876 STAINER & BARRETT Dict. Mus. Terms 98/1 Clausula, a close or cadence, e.g.: clausula falsa, a false cadence; clausula finalis, a final cadence, &c. 1889 GROVE Dict. Mus. IV. 592/1 Clausula, the mediæval name for what is now called a Cadence, or Close. The most important Close employed in Polyphonic Music, is the Clausula vera, or True Cadence, terminating on the Final of the Mode. 1944 W. APEL Harvard Dict. Mus. 155/2 In the repertory of the School of Notre Dame (c. 1200)..clausula is a polyphonic composition using as a cantus firmus a short melisma of a chant.
2. The close or end of a period, esp. one in ancient or medieval Latin having a definable cadence. (Cf. CLAUSE 1b.)
1900 J. E. SANDYS in Class. Rev. XIV. 136/2 The favourite clausulae of late Greek Prose and of Cicero are also examined. 1906 A. SLOMAN Gram. Class. Latin III. 387 In Cicero's Orations at any rate the Clausula is regulated by definite metrical rules. 1957 N. FRYE Anat. Criticism IV. 264 Recurring units of rhythm like the clausulae of Cicero.
" a cantus firmus a short melisma of a chant."
melisma
n.,
pl. 3ma[ta 73m! t!8 or 3mas 5Gr, song < melizein, to sing, modulate < melos, song: see MELIC6 a succession of different notes sung upon a single syllable, as orig. in plainsong or, now especially, in the ornamental phrases of Near Eastern and Asian music
mel[is[mat[ic 7mel#iz mat4ik8
adj.
melismanow
that's one I remember! especially during this Handelian time of year...
It is obviously time to update that definition of melisma which includes "now especially, in the ornamental phrases of Near Eastern and Asian music", since it is so widespread in *Western folk/popular vocal musics that I'd bet the *Western examples exceed (by far) most Near Eastern or Asian listeners' exposure to their home folk/popular musics...
... and it's not like this just happened in the last ten years!
Dear etaoin: you mentioned "conservatory". Interesting that the root meant "greenhouse".
Where promising sprouts are cultivated.
Just to confirm the general drift here, my Latin dictionary defines:
clausula, ae, f. [claudo], a close, conclusion, end: in quo (mimo), a fitting end: epistulae.—In rhet., the close of a period.
the close of a period?
period: The periodic sentence, characterized by the suspension of the completion of sense until its end. This has been more possible and favored in Greek and Latin, languages already favoring the end position for the verb, but has been approximated in uninflected languages such as English.
Example: Note the long delay prior to the occurrence of the sentence's main verb ("sing"):
Of man's first disobedience and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,
Sing Heav'nly Muse...
-from Silva Rhetoricae
But then period is defined as the length of time that a repetitive function takes to repeat itself. If the clausula is the end of the period, remember, according to Cunard Lines Getting There Is Half The Fun.
In reply to:
Of man's first disobedience and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,
Sing Heav'nly Muse...
-from Silva Rhetoricae
Strange. I thought it was from Paradise Lost.
Bingley
Paradise lost it in the Forest of Rhetoric.