It's simply the way Roman numerals were written back then. It's used very frequentky in chant books, even today. ij = 2, iij = 3, xviij = 18.
So "<music phrase> ij" means sing "<music phrase> <music phrase>." iij (often indicated in Kyries) means sing the Kyrie for a total of three times. I hadn't heard the one about "ij" you give in your PS, Arto. But "E u o u a e" has produced a few howlers (literally<g>). That reminds me, what novel has a horse named "Old Doxology"? ============================================ ----- Original Message ----- From: "Arto Wikla" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Sean Smith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: "Lute Net" <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2007 3:19 PM Subject: [LUTE] Re: Renaissance ditto/ij/" --was Fuenllana Tan que vivray > > Dear all, > > On Tue, 6 Mar 2007, Sean Smith wrote: > >> Are there any plausible latin phrases based on "ij"? > > As far as I know, it means "iterate item"; letters i > and j were quite > the same in printing in those days. > > All the best, > > Arto > > PS Once upon a time one singer was singing a baroque > song telling > about crusifixation of Jesus. And he interpreted the > "ij" being a > sound that came from J. while being tortured on the > cross. And he sang > those letters! And this is not an urban legend, I > heard it... ;) > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >
