| 释义 |
gamut|ˈgæmət|
Forms: 6 gamo(u)th, (gammouthe, 7 -oothe, 7 gam(m)uth, 6–7 gamma ut (7 gammaut), gam-ut, 8 gammut, 6– gamut.
[Contraction of med.L. gamma ut; f. gamma the name of the symbol Γ (introduced in the Middle Ages to represent a note one tone lower than the α which began the scale inherited from classical times) + ut, the first of a series of six syllables used as the names of the six notes forming a hexachord.
The names of the six notes are from certain initial syllables in the following sapphic stanza (Hymn for St. John Baptist's day): Ut queant laxis resonare fibris Mira gestorum famuli tuorum, Solve polluti labii reatum, Sancte Iohannes.]
1. The first or lowest note in the mediæval scale of music, answering to the modern G on the lowest line of the bass stave. Obs. exc. Hist.
1530Palsgr. 224/1 Gammouthe, gamme. 1596Shakes. Tam. Shr. iii. i. 73 Gamouth I am, the ground of all accord: A re to plead Hortensio's passion. 1597Morley Introd. Mus. 4 The first note standeth in Gam-vt. 1630J. Taylor (Water P.) Bawd Wks. i. 96/1 There is not any note aboue Ela, or below Gammoth, but she knows the Diapason. a1653G. Daniel Idyll v. 147 From Gamut Earth, notes above Ela Ayre. 1674Playford Skill Mus. i. i. 2 According to these three Septenaries, Gam-ut is the lowest Note. 1677Plot Oxfordsh. 12 [An Echo]..which answers to no Note so clearly as to Gamut.
2. The ‘Great Scale’ (of which the invention is ascribed to Guido d'Arezzo), comprising the seven hexachords or partial scales, and consisting of all the recognized notes used in mediæval music. It extended from Γ ut (= G on the lowest line of the bass stave) to E-la (= E in the highest space of the treble). Obs. exc. Hist.
a1529Skelton Agst. comely coystrowne 13 Wks. 1843 I. 15 But for in his gamut carp that he can, Lo, Jak wold be a jentylman! 1596Pathw. to Mus. A ij a, It is needfull for him that will learne to sing truely, to vnderstand his Scale, or (as they commonly call it) the Gamma vt. 1596Shakes. Tam. Shr. iii. i. 71, I am past my gamouth long agoe. 1622Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. ii. 94 Many of them could say their Gammoothe..but knew not how to proue a note. 1674Playford Skill Mus. i. i. 3 The Gam-ut is drawn upon fourteen Rules and their spaces, and doth comprehend all Notes or Sounds usual in Musick. 1782Burney Hist. Mus. (1789) II. ii. 85 The whole scale was called gammut. 1825Danneley Encycl. Mus. s.v. Gamme, This gamut comprised in all, twenty notes, viz. from G, first line bass clef, to the sixth of its double octave, or to the fourth space E, treble clef.
3. Hence in later use: The whole series of notes that are recognized by musicians. Sometimes also used for: The major diatonic scale, or the ‘scale’ recognized by any particular people, or at any period.
1709Addison Tatler No. 157 ⁋13 They make a greater Sound than those who are possessed of the whole Gammut. 1774‘Joel Collier’ Mus. Trav. 10 She..screamed..most harmoniously through the whole gamut from a to g inclusively. 1791Mrs. Radcliffe Rom. Forest v, There was more of the bass than of any other part of the gamut in his performance. 1827Carlyle Misc., Goethe (1869) 183 It was chanted through all the notes of the gamut. 1860Tyndall Glac. ii. i. 227 This spectrum is to the eye what the gamut is to the ear. 1864Tennyson Sea Dreams 227 And ever as their shrieks Ran highest up the gamut.
b. The compass or full range of notes which a voice or instrument is capable of producing.
1639J. Cruso Art of Warre Ded., A souldiers Gammaut goes farre beyond E-la. 1644Milton Areop. (Arb.) 50 The gammuth of every municipal fidler. 1825Danneley Encycl. Mus. s.v. Gamme, At the present day the word gamut denotes the compass of sounds for each instrument, viz. from the highest to the lowest note.
4. transf. and fig. The whole scale, range, or compass of a thing.
1626T. H. Caussin's Holy Crt. 14 Chaunge the Gamuth, and say, He is noble, he hath therfore the more obligation to be perfect. 1753Hogarth Anal. Beauty xii. 97 The painter's gamut. 1824F. Jeffrey Ess. Beauty, Encycl. Brit. Suppl. II. 193/1 Various learned treatises upon the natural gamut of colours. 1859Dickens T. Two Cities ii. i, The sounders of three-fourths of the notes in the whole gamut of Crime. 1864Burton Scot Abr. III. i. 122 He ran over the gamut of Latin metre. 1883Harper's Mag. 822/2 The..stocks were running..up and down the gamut from $1 to $700 a share.
5. Comb., as † gamut-string (see quot.).
1674Playford Skill Mus. ii. 92 The Bass-Viol..is usually strung with six strings..the fifth, the Tenor, or Gam-ut String. |