Limma
The word limma or leimma (from Greek: λείμμα, leimma; meaning "remnant") can refer to several different musical intervals, and one form of breath-mark to indicate spacing within lyrics; their only common property is that all are very small either in pitch difference or in time.
Pitch
More specifically, in Pythagorean tuning (i.e. 3-limit):
- The original Pythagorean limma, 256 / 243 , a Pythagorean interval (playⓘ).
and in 5-limit tuning:
- The 5-limit diatonic semitone, 16 / 15 (playⓘ). Although closer in size to the Pythagorean apotome than to the limma, it has been so called because of its function as a diatonic semitone rather than a chromatic one.
- The 5-limit limma (now a diesis), 128 / 125 , the amount by which three just major thirds fall short of an octave (playⓘ).
- The major limma, 135 / 128 , which is the difference between two major whole tones and a minor third (playⓘ).
Metre
A leimma is also the name of a musical / metrical symbol (𝉅) for the timing of sung lyrics. If written over lyrics to it directed the singer to insert the shortest possible pause between words or syllables it was placed over.[1]
Modern equivalents are:
- a breath mark
- a comma [,]
- a sixteenth rest (𝄿 ) or perhaps a thirty-second rest (𝅀 )
References
- ^ "λεῖμμα". Liddell, Scott, Jones Ancient Greek Lexicon (online) (last edit ed.). 4 September 2023. Retrieved 2024-03-15 – via LSJ - Ancient Greek dictionaries.
2 (b) in Rhythm, the shortest pause, λ. ἐν ῥυθμῷ χρόνος κενὸς ἐλάχιστος Aristid. Quint. 1.18 .
Index of articles associated with the same name
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