motet
UK[məʊˈtet]US[moʊˈtet]
n
A short piece of sacred choral music, typically polyphonic and unaccompanied.
Morpheme Breakdown
mot
et
mot
word
et
diminutive suffix
Etymology
The word 'motet' entered English from the Old French motet, a diminutive form of mot, meaning "word". This traces back to the Vulgar Latin muttum, "a grunt or mutter", itself from the Proto-Indo-European root mu-, an imitative sound of the lips. In medieval music, the term originally denoted a piece where a text (the "word") was added to an existing melody, distinguishing it from purely instrumental music. Over time, the diminutive suffix -et came to signify not just a "little word" but a specific, concise musical form, evolving into its modern definition as a short, unaccompanied choral composition.
Analysis
Structure: mot (word) + et (diminutive suffix)
- mot: From Old French, meaning "word" or "remark". Ultimately from Latin muttum, meaning "a grunt, a mutter".
- et: A diminutive suffix from Old French, indicating a small or lesser version of something.
Examples
The choir performed a 16th-century Latin motet during the service.
His specialty was composing intricate motets for four voices.
The motet evolved from the medieval practice of adding new texts to pre-existing melodies.