What does monochord mean?
Definitions for monochord
ˈmɒn əˌkɔrdmono·chord
This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word monochord.
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Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
Monochordnoun
1.An instrument of one string: as, the trumpet marine. Har.
Etymology: μόνος and χορδὴ.
Wikipedia
Monochord
A monochord, also known as sonometer (see below), is an ancient musical and scientific laboratory instrument, involving one (mono-) string (chord). The term monochord is sometimes used as the class-name for any musical stringed instrument having only one string and a stick shaped body, also known as musical bows. According to the Hornbostel–Sachs system, string bows are bar zithers (311.1) while monochords are traditionally board zithers (314). The "harmonical canon", or monochord is, at its least, "merely a string having a board under it of exactly the same length, upon which may be delineated the points at which the string must be stopped to give certain notes," allowing comparison.A string is fixed at both ends and stretched over a sound box. One or more movable bridges are then manipulated to demonstrate mathematical relationships among the frequencies produced. "With its single string, movable bridge and graduated rule, the monochord (kanōn [Greek: law]) straddled the gap between notes and numbers, intervals and ratios, sense-perception and mathematical reason." However, "music, mathematics, and astronomy were [also] inexorably linked in the monochord." As a pedagogical tool for demonstrating mathematical relationships between intervals, the monochord remained in use throughout the middle ages.
Webster Dictionary
Monochordnoun
an instrument for experimenting upon the mathematical relations of musical sounds. It consists of a single string stretched between two bridges, one or both of which are movable, and which stand upon a graduated rule for the purpose of readily changing and measuring the length of the part of the string between them
Etymology: [L. monochordon, Gr. , fr. with but one string; only, single + string: cf. F. monocorde. See Chord, and cf. Mainchord.]
Wikidata
Monochord
A monochord is an ancient musical and scientific laboratory instrument. The word "monochord" comes from the Greek and means literally "one string." A misconception of the term lies within its name. Often a monochord has more than one string, most of the time two, one open string and a second string with a movable bridge. In a basic monochord, a single string is stretched over a sound box. The string is fixed at both ends while one or many movable bridges are manipulated to demonstrate mathematical relationships between sounds. With two strings you can easily demonstrate how a consonant just chord sounds. Both open strings are tuned equal and then the movable bridge is put in a mathematical position to demonstrate, for instance, the major third or the minor third. The monochord can be used to illustrate the mathematical properties of musical pitch. For example, when a monochord's string is open it vibrates at a particular frequency and produces a pitch. When the length of the string is halved, and plucked, it produces a pitch an octave higher and the string vibrates at twice the frequency of the original. Half of this length will produce a pitch two octaves higher than the original—four times the initial frequency —and so on. Standard diatonic Pythagorean tuning is easily derived starting from superparticular ratios, /n, constructed from the first four counting numbers, the tetractys, measured out on a monochord.
Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
Monochord
mon′ō-kord, n. a musical instrument of one chord or string.
Numerology
Chaldean Numerology
The numerical value of monochord in Chaldean Numerology is: 8
Pythagorean Numerology
The numerical value of monochord in Pythagorean Numerology is: 6
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"monochord." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 17 Apr. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/monochord>.
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