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DictionaryRoot: dis-
Latin

dis-

apart, away; reversal or negation

Forms

  • dis-
  • di- — Shortened in certain Latin compounds.
  • dif- — Used before f in Latin.

Origin

Reconstructed Proto-Indo-European *dis, ‘apart,’ associated with the idea of ‘two.’

Note

Separating things supplied a route from physical apartness to undoing an action.

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A single music manuscript leaf compares a low-register main tune played alone with the same tune retained beneath an added, independently moving high melody.
noun / verb

descant

DES-kant/ˈdeskænt/

A high melody sung or played above a main tune.

Etymology
desLatinapart, away; reversal or negation
+cantLatinsinging or song

The pieces suggest a song apart from the main melody: originally, a counterpoint added to an existing tune. The word later also named the upper voice, giving the sense of a melody above the main tune.

Full entry

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