cantus

[kan-tuh s]

noun, plural can·tus.

cantus firmus.

Origin of cantus

From Latin, dating back to 1580–90; see origin at canto

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for cantus

Historical Examples of cantus

Write four times, changing the cantus firmus into every part.
A Treatise on Simple Counterpoint in Forty Lessons
Friedrich J. Lehmann
In other cantatas it is noted that the cantus firmus (the chorale-melody) is in the soprano, or other voice.
Bach
Charles Francis Abdy Williams
From this peculiarity the chant obtained the name of cantus firmus, or fixed chant.
How Music Developed
W. J. Henderson
The Cantus Evangelii and Epistolarum admitted likewise of a great and wearisome licence of inflection.
Rites and Ritual
Philip Freeman
Two-part counterpoint comprises a cantus firmus and a counterpoint.
A Treatise on Simple Counterpoint in Forty Lessons
Friedrich J. Lehmann

British Dictionary definitions for cantus

cantus

noun plural -tus

a medieval form of church singing; chant

Also called: canto the highest part in a piece of choral music

(in 15th- or 16th-century music) a piece of choral music, usually secular, in polyphonic style

Word Origin for cantus

Latin: song, from canere to sing

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012