cantus

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin cantus (literally “song, chant”).

Noun

cantus

1. (music) Synonym of superius.

Related terms

• cantus firmus

Latin

Etymology 1

Perfect passive participle of canō.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈkan.tʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈkan.tus]

Participle

cantus (feminine canta, neuter cantum); first/second-declension participle

1. sung, recited
2. sounded, blew
3. chanted

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	cantus	canta	cantum		cantī	cantae	canta
genitive	cantī	cantae	cantī		cantōrum	cantārum	cantōrum
dative	cantō	cantae	cantō		cantīs
accusative	cantum	cantam	cantum		cantōs	cantās	canta
ablative	cantō	cantā	cantō		cantīs
vocative	cante	canta	cantum		cantī	cantae	canta

Etymology 2

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *keh₂n-

Proto-Indo-European *kh₂néti

Proto-Italic *kanō

Latin canō

Proto-Indo-European *-tus

Proto-Italic *-tus

Latin -tus

Latin cantus

From canō + -tus (forming action nouns).

Noun

cantus m (genitive cantūs); fourth declension

1. song, singing
   • c. 37 BCE – 30 BCE, Vergilius, Georgicon 3.327–330:

     Inde, ubi quarta sitim caeli collegerit hora,
     Et cantu quaerulae rumpent arbusta cicadae,
     Ad puteos aut alta greges ad stagna jubebo
     currentem ilignis potare canalibus undam;
     […]

     • Translation by James B. Greenough, 1900

       When heaven's fourth hour draws on the thickening drought,
       And shrill cicalas pierce the brake with song,
       Then at the well-springs bid them, or deep pools,
       From troughs of holm-oak quaff the running wave:
       […]

2. chant, incantation
3. crowing, crow (sound certain birds make)

Declension

Fourth-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	cantus	cantūs
genitive	cantūs	cantuum
dative	cantuī	cantibus
accusative	cantum	cantūs
ablative	cantū	cantibus
vocative	cantus	cantūs

Derived terms

• canticum
• gallī cantus, gallicantus

Descendants

• Asturian: cantu
• Catalan: cant
• Corsican: cantu
• Friulian: cjant, čhant
• Gallurese: cantu
• Italian: canto
• Old French: chant
  • Middle French: chant
    • French: chant
• Old Galician-Portuguese: canto
  • Fala: canto
  • Galician: canto
  • Portuguese: canto
• Piedmontese: cant
• Romanian: cânt
• Sardinian: cantu
• Sicilian: cantu
• Spanish: canto
• Walloon: tchant
• → English: cantus

Etymology 3

Noun

cantus m (genitive cantī); second declension

1. alternative spelling of canthus (“wheel, carriage tire”)

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	cantus	cantī
genitive	cantī	cantōrum
dative	cantō	cantīs
accusative	cantum	cantōs
ablative	cantō	cantīs
vocative	cante	cantī

Further reading

• “cantus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “cantus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "cantus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • instrumental music: nervorum et tibiarum cantus
    
  • vocal and instrumental music: vocum et fidium (nervorum) cantus
    

Sardinian

Noun

cantus m pl

1. plural of cantu