Accentus

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A musical term referring to a marked emphasis on a note, often altering its emotional impact in a piece
2. Indicative of a stress or emphasis placed in vocal performance, which enhances the expression of music
3. Related to the highlighting of certain tones within a melody to create dynamic contrast and emotional depth

Etymology: In Latin, "accentus" meant a tone or melody, not a stress. It comes from "accinere," "to sing to or along with," itself built from "ad" (to) and "canere" (to sing). Roman grammarians used it to translate the Greek "prosōidia," a term for the pitch-melody that rose and fell across a syllable, so the sense of the word started out closer to song than to emphasis. The modern musical meaning, a marked stress that changes how a note feels, grew out of that sense of sung tone. The emphasis-based idea of "accent" came to dominate later, as speakers and writers began to describe stress in speech and then in music as the chief feature of an accent. Medieval Latin and later European musical writing kept "accentus" for sung speech and for the melodic line of liturgical chant. The Latin term's connection to singing is what links it to the musical use you describe.

Synonyms: accent, stress, emphasis, intonation