The cross symbol in Brizeno's notation (Castilian cifras in modern day jargon) represents the D major chord. The fingering of this is sort of cross shaped and the chord was known in Spain as "cruzado". The term is even in the Diccionaro de autoridades. Other chords have names which in some way reflect the way they are played.
The earliest table of alfabeto chords which I have a copy of - dated 1599 - starts with A and doesn't include the cross. I believe it may have been represented by another letter, but this table has several letters not filled out. Monica ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lex Eisenhardt" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Vihuela List" <vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu> Sent: Wednesday, April 05, 2006 3:59 PM Subject: [VIHUELA] Re: Christ's Cross > Dear Stewart, > > You know we say "kris-kras". The origin of that is only to be understood as > a translation of the English expression. In the Dutch language there is not > much etymological sense to be found for it. > > Interesting, to start the alfabet with such a symbol. Was that in languages > with (a certain measure of) Roman influence only? Or has there been such a > tradition as well in Germanic or Slavic or other languages? > > About count Pepoli, it is quite shocking to see Foscarini (p. 22) cry out > things like GONE, OLGA, DOEI (we say for bye!). Looks like a Gilles de la > Tourette in music notation.... > > Lex > > > > > Dear Lex and Odoardo, > > > > When 16th-century children learned their alphabet, they began with > > Christ's Cross, and then continued with A, B, C, etc. Although it's > > not really a letter, the chap who invented guitar alfabeto > > considered it to be one. By the way, Christ's Cross is the origin of > > the English expression "criss-cross". > > > > Best wishes, > > > > Stewart McCoy. > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > >
