Art & MusicGreek → English
Diapason
/ˌdaɪəˈpeɪzən/noun
The full range of a voice or instrument, and the principal stops that give an organ its basic tone.
The Greek roots
διά
diá
through, across
πασῶν
pasôn
of all (the strings)
Literally: “through all the strings”
The story of the word
Greek theorists described the octave as ἡ διὰ πασῶν χορδῶν συμφωνία, the concord through all the strings, and centuries of use wore the phrase down to its middle. English took it in the 14th century for the whole compass of a sound, then for the organ ranks that carry the instrument's core voice. Dryden closes his Song for St Cecilia's Day on the word, because he wants the sound of everything at once.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Old French → English
- First recorded
- late 14th century
Same family
diameterdiagonaldialoguepanoramapandemic
In a sentence
The organist pulled the open diapason and the floor moved.
Rain on the roof built to a diapason that drowned the record.