octave

octave
   a unit used in music to describe the ratio in frequency between notes. Two notes differ by one octave if the higher note has exactly twice the frequency of the lower one. The name, derived from the Latin numeral 8 (octo), refers to the traditional sequence of 8 notes in the musical scale (in English: do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do). Both ends of the scale are included, so 2 octaves include 15 notes (first do through third do) instead of 16. Outside of music, the octave is also used to describe a group of 8 objects sequenced somewhat like musical notes. For example, in the Christian religious calendar an octave is a period of 8 days beginning with a feast day and ending with the day one week after the feast day.

Dictionary of units of measurement. 2015.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • octave — [ ɔktav ] n. f. • v. 1180; lat. octavus « huitième » 1 ♦ Liturg. Huitième jour après certaines fêtes. Durée de huit jours pendant laquelle on commémore une grande fête. 2 ♦ (1534) Mus. Intervalle parfait de huit degrés de l échelle diatonique (5… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Octave — • A period of eight days, often observed liturgically Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Octave     Octave     † …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • octave — Octave. s. f. Huitaine. On appelle ainsi les sept jours qui suivent certaines Festes principales, dont l Eglise fait commemoration pendant toute une semaine. Pendant l octave du S. Sacrement. le premier jour, le dernier jour de l Octave. On… …   Dictionnaire de l'Académie française

  • Octave — Oc tave, n. [F., fr. L. octava an eighth, fr. octavus eighth, fr. octo eight. See {Eight}, and cf. {Octavo}, {Utas}.] 1. The eighth day after a church festival, the festival day being included; also, the week following a church festival. The… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • octave — [äk′tiv, äk′tāv΄] n. [OFr < L octava, fem. of octavus, eighth < octo,EIGHT] 1. a) the eighth day following a church festival, counting the festival day as the first b) the entire period between the festival and this day 2. a group of eight… …   English World dictionary

  • Octave — hat verschiedene Bedeutungen: Octave ist ein männlicher Vorname. GNU Octave, eine Software zur numerischen Lösung mathematischer Probleme Die Abkürzung OCTAVE steht für: Operationally Critical Threat, Asset, and Vulnerability Evaluation, ein… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Octave — Octave: GNU Octave  среда для численных вычислений Octave  альбом группы The Moody Blues Список значений слова или словосочетани …   Википедия

  • Octave — Patronyme porté en Lorraine (88, 54), également présent en Guadeloupe et en Martinique. Porté par l empereur Auguste, c est un gentilice latin, Octavius, formé sur l adjectif octavus (= huitième). En composition : Octave Emile (971). Forme… …   Noms de famille

  • octave — Octave, f. penac. Octava, Dont il vient, c est le huictiesme jour, comme l Octave d une feste, Octaua a festo dies …   Thresor de la langue françoyse

  • Octave — Oc tave, a. Consisting of eight; eight. Dryden. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Octave — (v. lat.), 1) so v.w. Octava; 2) das achte Intervall eines Tons in unserm Tonsystem. Schreibt man bei hochliegenden Tonreihen über die entsprechenden tieferen Noten die Abkürzung 8va..., so bedeutet dies, daß, so lange die punktirte Linie reicht …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”