The
Ranums'
Panat Times
Volume 1, redone Dec. 2014
Glossary, part 1 (A-C)
Glossary A-C
Glossary D-F
Glossary G-J
Glossary L-M
Glossary N-P
Glossary R-V
Affectueusement Agréablement Agrément Aisé Amoureusement Animé d'Aplomb Badiner,_badinage Cadence Coulé,_coulamment Coupé
Affectueusement (affectionately, fondly)
Affection n.: ["affection"] — Inclination, passion of the soul that makes us wish someone well; love, tendresse, friendship. — Furetière, 1690
— An inclination, a passion that makes one wish someone well or enjoy something. ... Also said about the ardor with which one is prompted to say or do something: "I will do it with affection." — DAF, 1694
Affectueux, affectueuse [adj.: "affectionate"] — Showing a great deal of affection. — DAF, 1694
— Is said of speeches or remarks that reveal affection. ... This word is used only for things, and is out of date. However, some people use it about pious matters to describe something that comes from the heart. — Furetière, 1702
— Said about eloquence that excites and stirs the passions. — Trévoux, 1771
Affectueusement [adv.: "affectionately"] — In an affectionate manner. — DAF, 1694
— Affetto, or con affetto is the same as affettuoso or affettuosamente, which means affectueusement, tendrement, etc., and consequently almost always lentement. — Brossard, 1703
[Spiritoso... means avec esprit, with soul, with judgment and discretion. It is also roughly the same as affettuoso. — Brossard]
— Affettuoso written at the beginning of an air indicates a tempo between andante and adagio, and in the ambiance [caractère] of a melody, an expression that is affectueuse and douce. — Rousseau, 1768
Agréablement (agreeably, pleasantly)
Agréable [adj.: "agreeable"] — Pleasant, something that "agrees,"* that pleases, that is according to our goût [taste]. — Furetière, 1690
[* agréer, to be received favorably — DAF, 1694]
— That agrees, that pleases. — DAF, 1694
— Also used for an inclination, a penchant; bonnes grâces ["good graces"]. ... Also means the agreeable relationship between the features and the air of a person, or of something being painted. — Furetière, 1702
— In painting, is said of colors that are brilliant and vivid. The subject [of the painting] is more appropriately described as gracieux. Good color is always agreeable, but color that is agreeable may not be good. — Trévoux, 1771
Agréablement [adv.: "agreeably"] — With pleasure, in an agreeable manner, avec esprit ["with spirit"]. — Richelet, 1681
— In an agreeable manner. — DAF, 1694
— Gratioso means in a manner that is agréable, gracieuse, capable of pleasing — Brossard, 1703
— The charming relationship between the features and the air of a person. Agreeable manner, a sort of grâce. — Richelet, 1681
— Something that is agréable [or that contributes to making it so, that pleases; charm, pleasure]. ... Is also said for some ornaments affixed a garment or to the face. ... Is especially said about embroidery and handwork using spangles, twisted beads or little knotted stitches, when they are well placed and make the workmanship graceful. A beauty spot that is not applied to the face to cover a blemish is called an agrément. — Furetière, 1690 [bracketed words added in 1702 ed.]
— Quality by which one pleases. — DAF, 1694
— Coloratura is the general name given in Italy to all vocal agréments. .... See also figura, diminutione, etc. — Brossard, 1703
— Agréments are also certain ornaments put on clothing; they are also certain played or danced divertissements that are added to plays. ... In vocal and instrumental music agréments are everything capable of making a song more agréable. — DAF, 1762
Aisé (effortlessly, comfortably, naturally)
Aisé, aisée [adj.: "effortless"] — A mind is said to be aisé when it conceives of things easily, explains itself well, raises no difficulties. Verse that is aisé has a clear, flowing style, without affectation, without constraint and without awkwardness. — Furetière, 1690
— À l'aise — Comfortably, easily, without trouble, without effort. — DAF, 1694
— Having a style that is aisé means writing in a natural, clear and intelligible manner that seems to have been effortless. — DAF, 1762
Amoureusement (lovingly, amorously)
Amour [n.: "love"] — The emotion [mouvement] of the soul by which it unites with objects that it deems beautiful and good. ... Declaration of amorous passion that is explained tendrement and galamment. Amorous sweet nothings that are said to a pretty woman. — Richelet, 1681
— Amour is also used for the mythical divinity of the pagans [Cupid], whom they imagined presiding over love. They claimed that Cupid's empire encompassed the entire world and that he inspired a mutual inclination between the two sexes. They misrepresented Cupid as a god in order to excuse vice. ... It also means all the little agréments that are born of beauty: les jeux, les ris, les amours and les grâces. — Furetière, 1690
— The feelings of one who loves. One's affection for an object that one looks upon as a possession. — DAF, 1694
— The feeling by which the heart turns toward something that it thinks loveable, and makes it the object of its affections and its desires. — DAF, 1762
Amoureux, amoureuse [adj: "loving," "amorous"] — In the terminology of painting, an "amorous paintbrush" is one whose touch is mellow, douce, légère and delicate. — Trévoux, 1771
Amoureusement [adv.: "lovingly"] — In a loving, tendre and favorable manner. — Furetière, 1690
— With a great deal of love, in a loving manner. — DAF, 1694
Animé (animated, sparkling, brisk)
Animer [inf.: "to animate"] — To make more lively, to excite, to impart strength, fire and vigor. — Richelet, 1681
— Is used figuratively ... when painters or sculptors seem to make their figures come alive by the strength of their brush strokes. ... [Also used by dancing masters when discussing steps, and means to assume an air that is more vif by rising on the tip of the toes: "Come now, animate your steps."] — Furetière, 1690, bracketed words added in 1702
— To be the vital principle in an organized body. ... To give the body a soul. — DAF, 1694
— Means figuratively, to give feeling and mouvement: "That would be capable of animating a statue." It also means, figuratively, to give strength to a work of the mind, either by the vif and brilliant touches one adds, or by the vif manner in which it is uttered. — DAF, 1762
Animé, animée [adj: "animated"] — One says, "She is not animated," when a woman is sad and languishing. — DAF, 1694
— Animé : see vivace, allegro, spiritoso, brillante, etc. — Brossard, 1703
— One says of a beautiful person who lacks a certain air that is vif: "She is a beauty who is not animated." — DAF, 1762
d'Aplomb (upright, plumb with something)
— A plumb bob is used by masons and carpenters to level and measure right angles. — Richelet, 1681
— Perpendicularly, a line raised à plomb makes a right angle on each side. Workers say "This wall keeps its aplomb, it is very straight, and that one that bulges, it has lost its aplomb. — Furetière, 1690
— Verify with the plumb bob whether a wall is straight in a perpendicular line. — DAF, 1694
— A line that is perpendicular to the horizon — DAF, 1727
— Perpendicularly, vertically: "The sun shone à plomb on his head," that is to say, directly. — Furetière, 1727
— A duple measure is beaten along a line that is perpendicular or d'aplomb, lowering and raising the right hand in an equal movement. — Desmots de la Salle, 1728, p. 151
[How to interpet this for performers? If a composer marked d'aplomb, he apparently wanted musicians to make be sure that each musical measure "lines up"neatly with the musical beat.]
Badiner, badinage (to banter, to trifle with, to tease in fun; banter, jesting)
Badiner [inf.: "to banter"] — Toy with and fondle with the hand: "He does nothing but badiner around ladies." ... Say things in a refined and pleasant manner, play about agréablement. — Richelet, 1681
— Play the role of a badin * ... Is also said about a certain style that is agréable, about certain plays on words, and about thoughts that may be pleasing. — DAF, 1694
[*Badin (adj.) a person who frolics, is niais and who amuses himself with silliness and foolish talk [niaiseries]. — DAF, 1694]
— When referring to attire and adornments [on clothing], one says "Ils badinent, [they banter], to mean that they are fluttering. — DAF, 1762
— Is also said about a various small, attached adornments, and means to have a slight motion that is agréable, to flutter. — Trévoux, 1771
— One's mind can be badin, ["bantering"] which leads one to play with things verbally. ... Lightness of spirit, cheerfulness and frivolity make one be badin.[the adjective derived from badiner]. ... A serious person is not badin. ... He is pleasant, laughing and is diversified and fluent in amusements or games. ... One can badiner at any age, but there are appropriate ways to do so. Badinage [the act of bantering] is an innocent amusement in itself and agreeable to society; in order to badiner with bonne grâce [graciously], one must be extremely polite. One does not badiner about serious and respected things. — Abbé Roubaud, 1785
Badinage [n.: "bantering"] — A sort of gallantry and agrément in one's style, in one's conversation. — DAF, 1762
Cadence (cadence, rhythm)
Cadence [n.: "cadence, falling down"] — Rhetorical term: the harmonious conclusion of a period [a long and rather complex sentence] or part of a period. ... Dancing term: the fall of the body's motion, "To dance en cadence" [in cadence]. ... Musical term: a certain way of ending a melody that occurs when the parts come together and end on a chord that the ear seems to be expecting to hear naturally. — Richelet, 1681
— According to the musicians of the past who wrote about musical theory, the cadence is a certain number of musical notes at a certain interval, which pleases the ear, and especially at the end of a couplet [where a harmonic cadence can be expected]. It is usually made up of a fourth and a fifth, to form an octave, which is the most excellent of the consonances. ... But modern musicians use cadence simply as the relationship between two notes sung together [as a trill], such as do and re. ... [Harmonic] cadences are to melodies what periods and commas are to speech. .... Singing masters say that cadence is a natural gift that permits one to trill delicately. ... The two notes making up the cadence [trill] should be executed in the throat, one after the other, and the same on the harpsichord, by striking the two keys of the trill. Cadence also means observing the mesures [in the sense of the downbeat that create the over-arching phrasing] used in dancing, when the steps and the motion of the body follow the notes and the mesures of the instruments; and so the cadence is the end of a temps or a mesure [in the sense of a phrase]. Thus one says "be in cadence", en cadence, or "out of cadence," to mean following or not following the mouvements [in the sense of rhythm] of the violin, the oboe, the song, etc. It is also said of the mesure that should be observed in oratory, in order to make it sound pleasing to the ear. — Furetière, 1690
— Cadence is knowing the different meters and the places which are the most stressed in airs. — Feuillet, Choréographie, 1700, p. 2
— Cadence, which constitutes the soul of the dance. — Rameau, Le Maître à danser, 1725, p. 96
— The cadence is a quality of good music, which gives to those who listen to it a strong feeling of the measure, so that they beat it and feel that it is occurring properly, without thinking about it and as if instinctively. This quality is above all required in airs for dancing: "This menuet has a good cadence, this chaconne lacks cadence." ... Cadence also means the way dancers' steps must conform to the mesure stressed by the instrument. But I would like to point out that this cadence is not always beaten in the way the mesure [time] is beaten. Thus music masters beat the menuet with a downbeat at the beginning of each measure, while the dancing master only beats one every two measures, because that is how long it takes to perform the four steps of a menuet. — Rousseau, 1768
— [In addition to being a synonym for "trill,"] it also means observing the same mesures [meters] as one does in dancing when the steps and the body motions follow the notes and the beat [mesures] of the instruments; thus the cadence is the end of a temps or measure. — Trévoux, 1771
Cadencé, cadencée [adj." "cadenced, in the sense of rhythmic"] — Prose that is rhymed and cadencé — Brossard, 1703
— Music that is written to fit dance motions must be more cadencé, that is, not only should the beat be more marked and make itself felt more clearly than usual, but the symmetry of the even-numbered measures must be more strictly observed. When the dance has a specific ambiance [caractère], such as pantomimed ballets, the music should conform to it. When there is no determined ambiance to the dance, as in contradanses, menuets, allemandes, and so forth, the music should assume and maintain an ambiance that is gay, playful or majestic, in sum, the one deemed the most appropriate for it. — Mercadier de Balesta, 1776
Coulé, coulamment [slurred, flowingly, smoothly]
Couler [inf.: "to flow"] — This word is used in its strict sense for water and liquids. It means to flow doucement and according to its natural inclination, to spread out doucement. ... This word is applied to speech or prose or verse and means to have nothing harsh or forced about it, to be aisé and natural. — Richelet, 1681
— In dancing terminology it means to move the leg doucement, légèrement and level with the ground. Dancing consists of knowing how to couler, couper, and make a pirouette. — Furetière, 1690
— To cause to slide adroitly, to place gently somewhere or in the middle of something. — DAF, 1694
Coulé, coulée [adj.: "flowing"] — Is said figuratively of speech or style that is facile, aisé, that has nothing constrained about it, that is natural. — Furetière, 1727
— In music is said when the voice or instruments move from one note to another by making a sort of link [liaison, which is also the word for "slur"] between the notes. — DAF, 1762
—When, instead of marking each note, one plays two or more notes with the same articulation, while prolonging the wind supply or the bowing. Too many coulés in a piece make its goût [savour] effeminate. ... Is also a dance step, see menuet et coulé [but the entry for menuet does not discuss the coulé!] — Trévoux, 1771
Coupé (broken, cut off)
Couper [inf.: "to cut off"] — To cut off with some sort of steel instrument. To cut off with strokes of an ax. — Richelet, 1681
Coupé, coupée [adj: "cut off"] Dancing term: to step onto one foot and pass the other foot in front or behind. — Richelet, 1681
— A style coupé is terse and laconic speech. [When the subject being treated requires fire and mouvement, oratorical periods that are coupé [broken up] are appropriate, because they have a je ne sais quoi that is very vif and male, which is perhaps one of the greatest ornaments of speech.] — Furetière, 1690. Phrases within brackets were added in 1702.
— "To cut the sounds short" ... see tronco.* There are times when one should not cut sounds short. — Brossard, 1703
[*Tronco per grazia means coupé or coupé de grâce. This notifies both instrumentalists and vocalists that they should not drag or lengthen certain sounds, but cut them off, that is, continue them only as long as needed to make them heard, so that there is a silence between each one, etc. This manner of cutting off sounds often creates a very fine effect, especially when expressing pain, when expressing sighs, sobs, etc. When expressing astonishment, in magical and frightening ceremonies, etc. — Brossard, 1703]
— Is said in music when, instead of giving a note its full value, it is given a dry and brief sound at the moment it begins, and the rest of its duration is passed in silence. — Trévoux, 1771