Etymology

ottava

O1T1T1A1V4A1

Today it means: One octave higher; as a marking, typically abbreviated 8va. Full definition →

Italian ottava
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The story

  1. Italian · borrowed fromottava“octave”
  2. English todayottava

From Italian ottava (“octave”) (also feminine form of ottavo (“eighth”), ordinal form of otto).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.