breve
/briːv
/noun
1 Music A note, rarely used in modern music, having the time value of two semibreves, and represented as a semibreve with two short bars either side, or as a square.The relationship between the semibreve and the minim is exactly the same as that accorded to the breve and semibreve....
- This consists simply of four notes written out on a single stave in breves.
- Semi means half, and although rare and rather ancient, the British system includes the breve in its logic.
2A written or printed mark (˘) indicating a short or unstressed vowel.Other explanations of English verse use more convenient typography as substitutes for the acute accent and breve....
- Accent caron, which should be used in pinyin instead of accent breve is not always supported.
- The vowel letters that are used in conjunction with the breve symbol are replaced by compound vowel letters.
3 historical An authoritative letter from a pope or monarch.The authority of the English crown in Ireland rested ultimately on the grant of the lordship in the alleged breve Laudibiliter....
- In these cases the title of breve might be accompanied or replaced by that of notitia, or memoratorium.
- The Jesuits took care to notify the general disregard for the papal breve.
Origin
Middle English: variant of brief. In the musical sense, the term was originally used in a series where a long was of greater time value than a breve.
brief from Middle English:
Briefs or underpants, which were first worn in the 1930s, are literally ‘shorts’. Brief comes from the Latin word brevis, meaning ‘short’, a root shared by abbreviate (Late Middle English) and the musical note breve (Late Middle English), which used to mean a short note.