{"id":69913,"date":"2025-07-11T07:44:21","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T12:44:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=69913"},"modified":"2025-07-11T10:21:55","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T15:21:55","slug":"beautiful-music-and-logical-warts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=69913","title":{"rendered":"Beautiful music and logical warts"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>In \"Rococo<\/a>\" (7\/6\/2025), I quoted from Charles Carr's 1965 paper \"TWO WORDS IN ART HISTORY II. ROCOCO<\/a>\" his evidence that the word rococo<\/em> began as way of denigrating certain kinds of out-of-fashion ugliness. Jonathan Smith noted in the comments<\/a> that \"baroque itself was first a(n) (disparaging) epithet\", and I quoted<\/a> the OED's endorsement of that idea, though without going into the whole \"an irregular pearl is like a wart\" background.<\/p>\n

But in a parallel 1965 article, \"TWO WORDS IN ART HISTORY I. BAROQUE<\/a>\", Charles Carr lays out three etymological theories about baroque<\/strong><\/em>, after sparing us \"fantastic etymologies to be found in certain eighteenth-century dictionaries\".
\n<\/p>\n

Carr's second theory is the \"elaborate art is like an irregular pearl is like a wart\" one. And he quickly rejects a third theory, promoted by the 13th and subsequent editions of Kluge's Etymologisches W\u00f4rterbuch der deutechen Sprache<\/em>, that baroque<\/strong><\/em> is an eponym for the Urbino painter Federigo Barocci<\/a>. But Carr's first etymological theory is the most fun, at least in my opinion:<\/p>\n

Leaving aside fantastic etymologies to be found in certain eighteenth-century dictionaries, there are three main theories on the origin of the word expounded in recent writings on the subject.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the first, baroque<\/em> is derived from the Med. Latin baroco<\/em>, one of the mnemonic code-words apparently invented by the thirteenth-century schoolman William of Shyreswood to denote the several moods of the syllogistic figures. Baroco<\/em> represents the fourth mood of the second figure, consisting of a major premise that is universal and affirmative and a minor premise that is particular and negative, yielding a conclusion that is particular and negative. By an extraordinary coincidenoe, extraordinary because of the more customary derivation of baroque<\/em> from a Portuguese word barroco<\/em> meaning a pearl, but undoubtedly a coincidence because he uses the example of the pearl for the other moods of the second figure, William of Shyreswood's example of the baroco<\/em> syllogism is: every pearl (margarita<\/em>) is a stone; some men are not stones ; therefore, some men are not pearls. The derivation of the French baroque<\/em> from the syllogistic term seems first to have been suggested by J. J. Rousseau in an article on baroque<\/em> music in his Dictionnaire de Musique<\/em> (1767) : \"Il y a bien de l'apparence que ce terme vient du Baroco<\/em> des logiciens.\" This etymology is found sporadically in some nineteenth-century dictionaries, was revived in recent times, especially by Croce (op. cit.<\/em>), but has not been generally accepted by philologists other than Italians. The evidence for and against it will be considered later.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here's Rousseau's entry, courtesy of Gallica<\/a>, clearly expressing a negative vibe:<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

BAROQUE. Une Musique Baroque<\/em> est celle dont l'Harmonie est confuse, charg\u00e9e de Modulations & de Dissonances, le Chant dur & peu natural, l'Intonation difficile, & le mouvement contraint.<\/span><\/p>\n

Il ya bien de l'apparence que ce terme vient du Baroco<\/em> des Logiciens.<\/span><\/p>\n

Baroque<\/em> music is music whose harmony is confused, full of modulations and dissonances, whose singing is harsh and unnatural, whose intonation is difficult, and whose movement is constrained.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is every reason to believe that this term comes from the Baroco<\/em> of the Logicians.<\/span><\/p>\n

1767 is earlier than I would have expected for such a stylistic change — that was the year that Telemann died, and Mozart was 11 years old. But it's not clear to me whose music Rousseau was criticizing — maybe he was manifesting a genre difference rather than a change in time periods, or just being his often-nasty self? Readers may provide some evidence, beyond the clues in the book's preface and the (other strange) stuff in this page from Grove's Dictionary<\/a>., e.g.<\/p>\n

His 'Lettre sur la musique Fran\u00e7aise' (1753) raised a storm of indignation, and not unnaturally, since it pronounces French music to have neither rhythm nor melody, the language not being susceptible of either; French singing to be but a prolonged barking, absolutely insupportable to an unprejudiced ear; French harmony to be crude, devoid of expression, and full of mere padding; French airs not airs, and French recitative not recitative. 'From which I conclude,' he continues, 'that the French have no music, and never will have any; or that if they ever should, it will be so much the worse for them.'\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Adding to the stylistic mystery, this is the endpaper of Gallica's edition<\/a>, which (the pasted bookplate aside) seems more appropriate for the psychedelic 1960s than for Louis XIV's France:<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Some background reading:<\/p>\n

\n

\"William of Sherwood<\/a>\", from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Wikipedia on \"Baroco<\/a>\"<\/p>\n

Wikipedia on \"Syllogism<\/a>\", including the derivation of this table of Baroco's relatives<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Figure 1<\/th>\nFigure 2<\/th>\nFigure 3<\/th>\nFigure 4<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Ba<\/b>rba<\/b>ra<\/b><\/td>\nCe<\/b>sa<\/b>re<\/b><\/td>\nDa<\/b>ti<\/b>si<\/b><\/td>\nCa<\/b>le<\/b>me<\/b>s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ce<\/b>la<\/b>re<\/b>nt<\/td>\nCa<\/b>me<\/b>stre<\/b>s<\/td>\nDi<\/b>sa<\/b>mi<\/b>s<\/td>\nDi<\/b>ma<\/b>ti<\/b>s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Da<\/b>rii<\/b><\/td>\nFe<\/b>sti<\/b>no<\/b><\/td>\nFe<\/b>ri<\/b>so<\/b>n<\/td>\nFre<\/b>si<\/b>so<\/b>n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Fe<\/b>rio<\/b><\/td>\nBa<\/b>ro<\/b>co<\/b><\/td>\nBo<\/b>ca<\/b>rdo<\/b><\/td>\nCa<\/b>le<\/b>mo<\/b>s<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ba<\/b>rba<\/b>ri<\/b><\/i><\/td>\nCe<\/b>sa<\/b>ro<\/b><\/i><\/td>\nFe<\/b>la<\/b>pto<\/b>n<\/i><\/td>\nFe<\/b>sa<\/b>po<\/b><\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ce<\/b>la<\/b>ro<\/b>nt<\/i><\/td>\nCa<\/b>me<\/b>stro<\/b>s<\/i><\/td>\nDa<\/b>ra<\/b>pti<\/b><\/i><\/td>\nBa<\/b>ma<\/b>li<\/b>p<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Rousseau's 1753 \"Lettre sur la Musique Fran\u00e7aise<\/a>\"
\nWikipedia's (French) page on Rousseau's \"Lettre sur la Musique Fran\u00e7aise\"<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In \"Rococo\" (7\/6\/2025), I quoted from Charles Carr's 1965 paper \"TWO WORDS IN ART HISTORY II. ROCOCO\" his evidence that the word rococo began as way of denigrating certain kinds of out-of-fashion ugliness. Jonathan Smith noted in the comments that \"baroque itself was first a(n) (disparaging) epithet\", and I quoted the OED's endorsement of that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[178],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-etymology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=69913"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69943,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69913\/revisions\/69943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=69913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=69913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=69913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}