Old English

Question

Does anybody know what "ut" means in Old English?

Anon203c8 · Accepted Answer

I hope this is at least a bit helpful:
ut: noun, musical note C, first note of the hexachord scale invented by Guido d'Arezzo which has now been replaced by the first octaval syllable "do".

Mister Micawber · Answer

OE ut is an adverb meaning 'out', 'outward', 'away'.

Blue Jay · Answer

Here are a some resources you may find helpful for Old English:
http://bosworth.ff.cuni.cz/
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Index:Old_English

http://www.oldenglishtranslator.co.uk/

Edit: You can download A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary by John R. Clark Hall in various formats here.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Franky12ut: noun, musical note C, first note of the hexachord scale invented by Guido d'Arezzo which has now been replaced by the first octaval syllable "do".

Sorry, you are mixing up languages. That reference to "ut" is from Latin, not Old English.

Gamut (etymology) 1520s, "low G, lowest note in the medieval musical scale" (the system of notation devised by Guido d'Arezzo), a contraction of Medieval Latin gamma ut, from gamma, the Greek letter, used in medieval music notation to indicate the note below the A which began the classical scale

Ut queant laxis resonare fibris
Mira gestorum famuli tuorum,
Solve pollutis labiis reatum,
Sancte Iohannes.

The ut being the conjunction "that." Gamut also was used for "range of notes of a voice or instrument" (1630s), also "the whole musical scale," hence the figurative sense of "entire scale or range" of anything, first recorded 1620s. When the modern octave scale was set early 16c., si was added, changed to ti in Britain and U.S. to keep the syllables as different from each other as possible. Ut later was replaced by more sonorous do (n.). See also solmization.

CalifJim · Answer

AlpheccaStars"ut" is from Latin, not Old English

Indeed, but even so, let me put a bold face on some of the syllables in case they have gone unnoticed by some of our readers.

Ut queant laxis resonare fibris [ut became do later in history.]
Mira gestorum famuli tuorum,
Solve pollutis labiis reatum,
Sancte Iohannes. [St. John's initials SI became ti later in history.]

Each half-line of the song begins one note higher than the previous half-line does. That's how the notes of the scale got their names. It's a medieval version of the modern "Doe, a deer" song (Do, Re, Mi, from "The Sound of Music").

CJ

AlpheccaStars · Answer

CalifJimIt's a medieval version of the modern "Doe, a deer" song (Do, Re, Mi, from "The Sound of Music").

Cool!

Cool Breeze · Answer

Anonymous Does anybody know what "ut" means in Old English?

As Mr M has said, it means 'out'. The old spelling is still used in modern Swedish: Jag måste ut nu. (I must out now.) In Swedish, no verb is often needed after certain modal auxiliaries, such as måste (must).

CB

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