Antiphon

The story of the word

The Greek adjective described voices answering each other, and the practice of splitting a choir in two spread through the fourth-century Eastern church before reaching Milan and Rome. English borrowed the word twice. The early loan came through Old English antefn and wore down over centuries into anthem, which drifted away to mean any solemn song, while the learned form antiphon was fetched back from Latin later with the technical sense intact.

How it travelled

Ancient Greek → Late Latin → Old English → English

First recorded

16th century