Early music and terminological resurgence

Abstract

Research on historical terminology is a key step to understanding a specialised language and its evolution, and to getting to the core of a historical discipline in context. This type of research is particularly of interest in fields like Early music, especially as early-music specialists have to use and master the proper terminology for the music they specialise in and that is very often different from the terminology traditionally used in music, and as they have to be able to communicate efficiently with specialists from other fields. In this paper, the author will present an ongoing doctoral research project on the music terminology in use in France and in England during the second half of the 17th century and its evolution through time, the methodology being used and some methodological issues, as well as present a few examples illustrating the author’s work.