Etymology

ti

T1I1

Today it means: A syllable used in solfège to represent the seventh note of a major scale. Full definition →

Middle English si ← Italian si ← Latin Sāncte Iohannēs
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

ti · noun1

  1. Latin · derived fromSāncte Iohannēs“Saint John (the Baptist)”
  2. Italian · derived fromsi
  3. Middle English · inherited fromsi“seventh degree or note of Guido of Arezzo's hexachordal scales”
  4. English todayti

Coined by English music educator Sarah Anna Glover in 1812 as an alteration of si for her solmization, made so that every note of solfège would begin with a different letter, from Middle English si (“seventh degree or note of Guido of Arezzo's hexachordal scales”), Italian si in the solmization of Guido of Arezzo, from the initials of Latin Sāncte Iohannēs (“Saint John (the Baptist)”) in the lyrics of the scale-ascending hymn Ut queant laxis by Paulus Deacon.

ti · noun2

  1. Polynesian · derived from
  2. English todayti

From a Polynesian language, related to Hawaiian kī.

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishsi all →

si

Italiansi all →

si

LatinSāncte Iohannēs all →

si

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.