different between tenor vs countertenor

English

Alternative forms

• tenour (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English tenour, from Anglo-Norman tenour, from Old French tenor (“substance, contents, meaning, sense; tenor part in music”), from Latin tenor (“course, continuance; holder”), from tene? (“I hold”). In music, from the notion of the one who holds the melody, as opposed to the countertenor.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /t?n?(?)/
• Homophone: tenner

Noun

tenor (countable and uncountable, plural tenors)

1. (music) A musical range or section higher than bass and lower than alto.
2. A person, instrument, or group that performs in the tenor (higher than bass and lower than alto) range.
3. (archaic, music) A musical part or section that holds or performs the main melody, as opposed to the contratenor bassus and contratenor altus, who perform countermelodies.
4. The lowest tuned in a ring of bells.
5. Tone, as of a conversation.
6. (obsolete) duration; continuance; a state of holding on in a continuous course; general tendency; career.
   • 1751, Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

     Along the cool sequestered vale of life / They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.

7. (linguistics) The subject in a metaphor to which attributes are ascribed.
8. (finance) Time to maturity of a bond.
9. Stamp; character; nature.

   • This success would look like chance, if it were perpetual, and always of the same tenor.

10. (law) An exact copy of a writing, set forth in the words and figures of it. It differs from purport, which is only the substance or general import of the instrument.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Bouvier to this entry?)

11. That course of thought which holds on through a discourse; the general drift or course of thought; purport; intent; meaning; understanding.
    • 1832, Caroline Wilson, The Listener

      He would have learned , by the whole tenor of the divine law , and especially by the example of the absent Lord , whose property he was for a season trusted with , that he was to do as much good to humanity , and win as much glory to God, as was compatible with the measure of his trust, and for the time for which he might retain it.
12. (colloquial, music) A tenor saxophone.

Coordinate terms

• (voice types): soprano, mezzo-soprano, contralto (female, decreasing in pitch); countertenor, baritone, bass (male, decreasing in pitch)

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

tenor (not comparable)

1. Of or pertaining to the tenor part or range.

   He has a tenor voice.

   • 2009, Richard Smith, Can't You Hear Me Calling: The Life of Bill Monroe, Father of Bluegrass, Da Capo Press ?ISBN

     Sometimes Charlie would sing notes that were more tenor than original melody, forcing Bill to sing a high baritone-style line.

   • 2012, Lily George, Captain of Her Heart, Harlequin ?ISBN, page 173

     The door swung open, and a masculine voice—a little more tenor than Brookes's bass tones—called, “Brookes, come in. Do you have your colleague with you?”

   • 2015, Michael J. Senger Sr., The Connection, Lulu Press, Inc ?ISBN

     Kahn was not a big man and he had a voice that was a little more tenor than most preferred.

Translations

See also

• tenor on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Tenor in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• Norte, Toner, Trone, noter, toner, torne, trone

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin tenor, ten?rem.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /t??no/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /te?no?/

Noun

tenor m (plural tenors)

1. tone, tendency
2. tenor

Related terms

• tenir

Further reading

• “tenor” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Czech

Etymology

Latin teneo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?t?nor]

Noun

tenor m

1. tenor (musical range)

Related terms

Further reading

• tenor in P?íru?ní slovník jazyka ?eského, 1935–1957
• tenor in Slovník spisovného jazyka ?eského, 1960–1971, 1989

Danish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /te?no?r/, [te?no???]

Noun

tenor c (singular definite tenoren, plural indefinite tenorer)

1. tenor (musical range, person, instrument or group performing in the tenor range)

Declension

Further reading

• “tenor” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “tenor” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch tenore, from Medieval Latin tenor or Italian tenore, from Latin tenor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t??n?r/
• Hyphenation: nor
• Rhymes: -?r

Noun

tenor m (plural tenoren or tenors)

1. tenor

Derived terms

• contratenor

Ido

Verb

tenor

1. future infinitive of tenar

Indonesian

Etymology

• From Dutch tenor, from Italian tenore, from Latin tenor.
• Semantic loan from English tenor for sense of time to maturity of a bond.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?t?n?r]
• Hyphenation: tè?nor

Noun

tenor (first-person possessive tenorku, second-person possessive tenormu, third-person possessive tenornya)

1. tenor:
   1. (music) a musical range or section higher than bass and lower than alto.
   2. (music) a person, instrument or group that performs in the tenor (higher than bass and lower than alto) range.
   3. (finance) time to maturity of a bond.

Further reading

• “tenor” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI) Daring, Jakarta: Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa, Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia, 2016.

Latin

Etymology

tene? (“to hold”) +? -or (“abstract noun suffix”)

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?te.nor/, [?t??n?r]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?te.nor/, [?t???n?r]

Noun

tenor m (genitive ten?ris); third declension

1. a sustained, continuous course or movement, a continuity of events, conditions etc. or way of proceeding
2. a line of reasoning, point, gist of an utterance in so far as it decides legal questions whether individually or generally, a provision (either its wording or its meaning)
3. a tone (of sound or color); stress (of the voice)
4. (Medieval Latin) a seisin

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Descendants

Further reading

• tenor in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• tenor in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• tenor in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• “tenor” on page 2118 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (2nd ed., 2012)
• Wacke, Andreas (21-08-2020) , “Das Rechtswort: Tenor”, in Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte: Romanistische Abteilung (in German), volume 137, DOI:10.1515/zrgr-2020-0014

Middle English

Noun

tenor

1. Alternative form of tenour

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Italian tenore, via French ténor and German Tenor

Noun

tenor m (definite singular tenoren, indefinite plural tenorer, definite plural tenorene)

1. tenor (singing voice or singer; pitch of a musical instrument)

References

• “tenor” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Italian tenore, via French ténor and German Tenor

Noun

tenor m (definite singular tenoren, indefinite plural tenorar, definite plural tenorane)

1. tenor (singing voice or singer; pitch of a musical instrument)

References

• “tenor” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old French

Alternative forms

• tenëor
• tenour (Anglo-Norman)

Etymology 1

From tenir, cf. also Late Latin tentor.

Noun

tenor m (oblique plural tenors, nominative singular tenors, nominative plural tenor)

1. holder; possessor (one who possesses; one who has)

Descendants

• French: teneur
  • ? Dutch: teneur
• ? English: tenor

Etymology 2

Inherited from Latin tenor, ten?rem.

Noun

tenor f (oblique plural tenors, nominative singular tenor, nominative plural tenors)

1. possession
2. content (of a letter)

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (tenor, feminine noun, possession)
• tenure on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin tenor, ten?rem, with the sense of "tenor" taken from Italian tenore.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /te?no?/, [t?e?no?]

Noun

tenor m (plural tenores)

1. tenor
2. (formal) sense, meaning

Derived terms

• a tenor de

Anagrams

• norte (see for more anagrams)

Further reading

• “tenor” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.

English

Alternative forms

• counter-tenor
• counter tenor

Etymology

counter- +? tenor

Noun

countertenor (plural countertenors)

1. adult male singer who uses head tone or falsetto to sing far higher than the typical male vocal range
2. male singing voice far higher than the typical male vocal range
3. (Older) a part or section performing a countermelody against the tenor or main part

Coordinate terms

• (voice types): soprano, mezzo-soprano, contralto (female); countertenor, tenor, baritone, bass (male)

Related terms

• contratenor
• contratenor altus
• contratenor bassus

Translations