At 2:46 PM -0400 6/14/12, David H. Bailey wrote: > >On the other hand, if there are multiple groups of people working for an >organization, they are pluralized to be "staffs." Again for the use of >the word "staff" as a wooden stick, the plural is "staffs." So why, if >the singular for a line of music is a "staff" isn't the plural "staffs?"
Usage. Period. Which is how ALL words--regular or irregular--grow and change. And the present discussion is part of that process. When I directed a show ensemble we had a performing staff, a technical staff, and a public relations staff: three staffs. > >And thinking about the plural for those pieces of wood shaped to form a >barrel, they are called "staves" and the singular is called "stave" as >in "a barrel stave." Quite right. I guess coopers never bothered to talk with musicians. For that matter, I wonder why a bunch of lines scribed across a page came to be called a "staff" in the first place! What about self defense? I know a quarter staff is called that, but what's it a quarter OF?!! And isn't a length of wood used by a hiker (and available for self defense at need) sometimes referred to as a stave? One of the most interesting things about English is its profound ILLogic, since it developed out of Anglo Saxon and other stuff among the lower classes when Latin was the language of the Church and education, and Norman French was the language of government and the ruling class, so nobody paid any attention to it! And it's been borrowing words and mispronouncing them ever since. > >Since we're on lexicography, can anybody explain why sharps, flats and >naturals are called "accidentals?" Another interesting question, and perhaps only used in English? The New Grove I article defines the term and gives the equivalents in several languages for sharps, flats, and naturals, but does not speculate on the derivation of the word. (I wonder whether the OED might go further?) The USE dates from Guido d'Arezzo in about AD 1030, although he only recognized one variable note, B, which could be notated as either a "soft b" (a rounded lower case b) or a "hard b" (a squared off b, which later sprouted a few extra stems and became our signs for BOTH the sharp and the natural). But if I were starting from scratch (which we can never do with language), I'd be inclined to call the temporary alterations "incidentals" rather than "accidentals." I wonder whether it grew out of the fact that a knowledge of musica ficta required making chromatic alterations that were not indicated in the notation itself? One thing I've learned about musical terminology is never to expect logic! John -- John R. Howell, Assoc. Prof. of Music Virginia Tech Department of Music School of Performing Arts & Cinema College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences 290 College Ave., Blacksburg, Virginia 24061-0240 Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034 (mailto:john.how...@vt.edu) http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html "Machen Sie es, wie Sie wollen, machen Sie es nur schön." (Do it as you like, just make it beautiful!) --Johannes Brahms _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
