descant
UK[ˈdeskænt]US[ˈdeskænt]
n
an independent melody sung or played above a basic melody
v
to talk or write at length about a particular subject
Morpheme Breakdown
de
scant
de
down from, away from
scant
to climb
Etymology
the word descant originates from the latin phrase discantus, meaning 'a song apart'. this term was formed from dis- (apart) and cantus (song), which itself derives from the verb canere (to sing). in medieval music, discantus referred to a polyphonic technique where a new melody was composed to run counter to a plainchant. the spelling evolved through old french deschant into middle english descant, shifting the prefix from dis- to de- while retaining the core concept of a separate, higher melody. the verb sense, meaning to discourse at length, developed figuratively from the musical idea of elaborating on a theme.
Analysis
Structure: de + scant
de- (latin origin, meaning 'down from, away from'), scant (from latin scantus, a variant of scandere, meaning 'to climb')
Examples
the soprano sang a beautiful descant over the final hymn.
he would often descant on the virtues of classical education.
the flute provided a light descant to the cello's main theme.