incipit

American  

[in-si-pit, ing-ki-pit] / ˈɪn sɪ pɪt, ˈɪŋ kɪ pɪt /

noun

1. the introductory words or opening phrases in the text of a medieval manuscript or an early printed book.

2. Music. the first words of a chanted liturgical text, as that of a Gregorian chant or certain medieval motets.

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incipit British  

/ ˈɪnkɪpɪt /

1. here begins: used as an introductory word at the beginning of some medieval manuscripts

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Etymology

Origin of incipit

1895–1900; < Latin: (here) begins, 3rd-person singular present of incipere

Example Sentences

Next to the name of the weaver’s apprentice were three ominous words: “Hic incipit pestis.”

From Slate

Like him, I began with only one sentence, the incipit of all further conversation.

From The New Yorker

As some specific titles, especially in poetry, would have been used in works by multiple authors, it is also likely that some labels included an “incipit”—the first line of the work.

From Literature

When Beardsley created “Incipit Vita Nova,” he was not yet twenty years old.

From The New Yorker

The impressive piece, ready to be installed at Newcastle upon Tyne's Castle Keep, is a modern tribute to the incipit of St John's Gospel in principio erat Verbum - "in the beginning was the Word."

From BBC