diatonic

English

Etymology

From French diatonique or Late Latin diatonicus, ultimately from Ancient Greek διατονικός (diatonikós), in the phrase [γένος (génos, “type, genus”)] διατονικός (diatonikós) (in reference to the diatonic tetrachord, and in contrast to the chromatic and enharmonic tetrachords), from διάτονος (diátonos) (διά (diá) + τόνος (tónos)), of disputed etymology, as both components are ambiguous.^[1]

Most plausibly, διάτονος (diátonos) refers to “stretched intervals”, as the intervals of the diatonic tetrachord are the most evenly distributed or “stretched out”, compared to the chromatic and enharmonic tetrads, which use smaller, more crowded together intervals.^[2] Compare pyknon, from πυκνός (puknós, “dense, compressed”), referring to the lower part of the non-diatonic tetrachords: the diatonic tetrachord has widely spaced notes (“stretched out”), while the other tetrachords have a closely spaced notes (“compressed”).

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˌdaɪəˈtɒnɪk/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˌdaɪəˈtɑnɪk/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Rhymes: -ɒnɪk

Adjective

English Wikipedia has an article on:

diatonic and chromatic

Wikipedia

diatonic (not comparable)

(music) Relating to or characteristic of a musical scale which contains seven pitches and a pattern of five whole tones and two semitones; particularly, of the major or natural minor scales.

Antonyms

chromatic

Derived terms

Translations

diatonic

Catalan: diatònic
Chinese:
Mandarin: 自然律的 (zìránlǜde), 自然音階的 / 自然音阶的 (zìrán yīnjiē de)
Danish: diatonisk
Finnish: diatoninen (fi)
French: diatonique (fr)
German: diatonisch
Greek: διατονικός (el) m (diatonikós)
Icelandic: díatónískur
Italian: diatonico
Norwegian:
Bokmål: diatonisk

Nynorsk: diatonisk
Polish: diatoniczny (pl) m
Russian: диатони́ческий (ru) (diatoníčeskij)
Spanish: diatónico
Swedish: diatonisk (sv)

References

^ Michaelides, Solon, The Music of Ancient Greece: An Encyclopaedia (London; Faber and Faber, 1978), pp. 335–40: “Tonos”. Τόνος may refer to a pitch, an interval, a "key" or register of the voice, or a mode.
^ Barsky, Vladimir, Chromaticism, Routledge, 1996, p. 2: “There are two possible ways of translating the Greek term 'diatonic': (1) 'running through tones', i.e. through the whole tones; or (2) a 'tensed' tetrachord filled up with the widest intervals.”

Anagrams

actinoid, dication, naticoid

Romanian

Etymology

Etymology tree

French dia-

Proto-Indo-European *ten-

Proto-Indo-European *-os

Proto-Indo-European *tónos

Proto-Hellenic *tónos

Ancient Greek τόνος (tónos)der.

Latin tonusbor.

French ton

French diaton

Proto-Indo-European *-kos

Proto-Indo-European *-ikos

Proto-Italic *-ikos

Latin -icuslbor.

Old French -ique

Middle French -ique

French -ique

French diatoniquebor.

Latin diatonicuslbor.

Romanian diatonic

Borrowed from French diatonique, or a learned borrowing from Latin diatonicus. By surface analysis, diaton + -ic.

Adjective

diatonic m or n (feminine singular diatonică, masculine plural diatonici, feminine/neuter plural diatonice)

(music) diatonic

Declension

Declension of *diatonic*
		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	diatonic		diatonică	diatonici	diatonice
nominative- accusative	definite	diatonicul		diatonica	diatonicii	diatonicele
genitive- dative	indefinite	diatonic		diatonice	diatonici	diatonice
genitive- dative	definite	diatonicului		diatonicei	diatonicilor	diatonicelor

[1] Michaelides, Solon, The Music of Ancient Greece: An Encyclopaedia (London; Faber and Faber, 1978), pp. 335–40: “Tonos”. Τόνος may refer to a pitch, an interval, a "key" or register of the voice, or a mode.

[2] Barsky, Vladimir, Chromaticism, Routledge, 1996, p. 2: “There are two possible ways of translating the Greek term 'diatonic': (1) 'running through tones', i.e. through the whole tones; or (2) a 'tensed' tetrachord filled up with the widest intervals.”

[1]

[2]