ut

Syllable (formerly) used in solfège to represent the first note of a major scale.

Noun

  1. Syllable (formerly) used in solfège to represent the first note of a major scale.
    • Old Mantuam, old Mantuan. Who vnderſtandeth thee not, vt re ſol la mi fa: Vnder pardon sir, What are the contents? […] - c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William...
    • The French added si for the seventh, and the Italians changed ut to do. Modern music-books name the whole thirteen notes of the semi-tone scale, and expect the pupil to learn them all. - 1875 February, The Ladies'...

Origin

From Middle English ut (“first degree or note of Guido of Arezzo's hexachordal scales”), Italian ut in the solmization of Guido of Arezzo, from the opening word Latin ut (“how”) in the lyrics of the scale-ascending hymn Ut queant laxis by Benedictine monk Paulus Deacon (8th c. CE).

Forms

uts

Related

gamut