A capella
Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2017 12:14 pm
by William Hupy
From Italian, through which all things music derive, for alla capella, in the manner of the chapel. In turn from the Latin for little cape, which provided sanctuary, as the legend goes, for a beggar provided a cloak by a Roman soldier in Gaul. Later honored as St. Martin, the patron Saint of France.
Re: A capella
Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2023 3:43 pm
by Slava
If you're like me, you have no idea who Martin was. Here's a paragraph, courtesy of
etymonline:
By tradition, the name is originally in reference to the sanctuary in France in which the miraculous cape of St. Martin of Tours, patron saint of France, was preserved. (While serving Rome as a soldier deployed in Gaul, Martin cut his military coat in half to share it with a ragged beggar. That night, Martin dreamed Christ wearing the half-cloak; the half Martin kept was the relic.) The other theory is that it comes from Medieval Latin capella in a literal sense of "canopy, hood" and is a reference to the "covering" of the altar when Mass is said.