Temperament naming: Difference between revisions

There was, in general, not a hard rule of naming temperaments, but examples to follow. In 2004, [[Gene Ward Smith]] outlined a number of examples for reference: [https://yahootuninggroupsultimatebackup.github.io/tuning-math/topicId_10667.html ''Some naming examples'']. In 2012, [[Ryan Avella]] abstracted a convention of naming temperaments: [https://yahootuninggroupsultimatebackup.github.io/tuning/topicId_105566.html ''Naming Convention Suggestion'']. The main takeaway from the threads is that a name should be a common noun (thus written in lowercase), ideally consisting of a single word. This contrasts a scale in a temperament, e.g. machine vs Machine[6].  

Below are documented some notable features of naming which might be confusing to beginners of RTT.  

==== Comma name and temperament name ====

With a few exceptions, a name of a comma implies an eponymous temperament and vice versa, in which case we consider it an official common name. A description, or descriptive name, is an alternative, typically longer, term that conveys some additional information at the cost of lacking in uniqueness. For example, 225/224 is named the ''marvel comma'', and tempering it out results in the marvel temperament. Meanwhile, it has a descriptive name ''septimal kleisma'' that perhaps dates back to earlier times.  

==== Use of a name for a temperament and its extensions ====

A name can be shared by a temperament as well as its [[strong extension]]s. For example, meantone was defined in the 5-, 7-, 11- and 13-limit, each temperament in the higher limit being a strong extension to the ones in the lower limit. The reason is sometimes you get the higher-limit intervals "for free" when using the lower-limit temperament, so the following notes should be taken:

* Only the best and most obvious extension may share the original temperament's name.  

* If a temperament does not have an obvious extension, or has multiple competing extensions, each should get a distinct name.

* [[Weak extension]]s should never share the original temperament's name since their structures are very different.  

It is often useful to investigate the implied full prime-limit temperament as well as the subgroup temperaments for a comma, especially in the higher limits where there is a shift of interest towards the subgroups. The following practice was established around 2022–2023 when many higher-limit commas were getting named:  

* If a comma is named the "''X''-isma", then the temperament which tempers out the ''X''-isma in the minimal prime subgroup containing that comma should be named "''X''-ic" and the temperament which tempers out the ''X''-isma in the minimal [[prime limit]] containing that comma should be named "''X-''ismic". A comma page should ideally always include a mention of both of those temperaments. The temperaments and obvious and/or strong extensions may be discussed either there or on linked-to dedicated pages.

* It is also valid to use "''X''-sma" instead of ''X''-isma and "''X''-smic" instead of ''X''-ismic, with ''X''-ic being unchanged, but ''X''-isma is more common as it is often less awkward to pronounce and spell.

Therefore, if one finds oneself at an impasse, refer to this work in progress section and see how many bullet points are in favour of a name or rename. With that said...

Every rename proposal must have at least one ''strong reason''. The only time it is acceptable for it not to is if the previous name has very little or no usage and the rename does not cause friction (e.g. the recent proposer wants to change the name and there are no objections).

 

If, however, a name has received enough usage outside the wiki that a rename would be ''significantly'' inconvenient and confusing and/or if there is a very large amount of usage on the wiki so that many people may have seen and remembered the previous name, the previous name should be mentioned in passing towards the beginning of the page for clarity/to avoid confusion and for historical purposes. The only exception to this rule is if the name is NSFW, in which case it should be at the very least moved out of the spotlights if not removed entirely.

 

Meaning: First named as ''tricot'', but later renamed to ''alphatricot'' following the specifications of [[ploidacot]]. The interval class of 3 is divided into three equal parts, hence "tri-". The specific interval being divided is 3/1, which is an octave above 3/2, hence "alpha-". See the temperament's dedicated page for sources.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Originally tripletone, in analogy with twintone, but when twintone was renamed pajara Paul Erlich suggested it should be augene, after augmented and Gene Smith.

=== [[Avila]] ===

Origin: Mike Battaglia, Ron Sword, Ryan Avella (2011)

Meaning: Originally discovered by Ryan by accident while he was reading the mapping for Mavila temperament incorrectly. It is the original spelling of Ryan's surname.

=== [[Beatles]] ===

Origin: Gene Ward Smith (2003)

Named for the 19\64 generator, since 1964 is the year the Beatlemania swept the world.<ref>[https://yahootuninggroupsultimatebackup.github.io/tuning-math/topicId_5279.html#5299 Yahoo! Tuning Group | ''Poptimal generators'']</ref>

=== [[Limmic temperaments #Blacksmith|Blackwood]] ===

Origin: Gene Ward Smith and Paul Erlich (2002)<ref>[https://yahootuninggroupsultimatebackup.github.io/tuning-math/topicId_4554.html Yahoo! Tuning Group | ''Modified best 5-limit geometric list'']</ref><ref>[https://yahootuninggroupsultimatebackup.github.io/tuning-math/topicId_5080.html Yahoo! Tuning Group | ''Ultimate 5-limit comma list'']</ref>

Meaning: Named after Easley Blackwood's 10-out-of-15 maximally even scale.  

=== [[Breed (temperament)|Breed]] ===

Origin: Gene Ward Smith (2004)

Named after [[Graham Breed]]. See [[breedsma]] for sources.

=== [[Catakleismic]] ===

The "cata" prefix means "down", and the catakleismic generator is very slightly down from the hanson generator, a temperament called "kleismic" until Paul Erlich decided the name must and shall be changed.

=== [[Catler]] ===

Named for [[Jon Catler]].

=== [[Dicot]] ===

Meaning: 3/2 is divided into 2 equal parts, hence "di-". Not sure why "-cot". "-Cot" has been suggested to originate from 'cotyledon,' the name for the embryo of a plant seed.

=== [[Diminished (temperament)|Diminished and dimipent]] ===

Origin: Paul Erlich and Carl Lumma (2002)

"Diminished" gets its name from its 1/4-octave period, corresponding to a diminished seventh chord.<ref>[https://yahootuninggroupsultimatebackup.github.io/tuning/topicId_34327#34708 Yahoo! Tuning Groups | ''new equal temperament 5-limit error lattices''] - "i think carl and i just came to the consensus here that this should be called 'diminished', and the one you're calling 'diesic' should be called 'augmented'. besides the reasons already given, the period of the 'diminished' linear temperament is 1/4 octave (thus outlining a diminished seventh chord)" —Paul Erlich</ref>

This naming was not immediate, however. Paul initially proposed the name "octo-diminished"<ref>[https://yahootuninggroupsultimatebackup.github.io/tuning-math/topicId_1997#1998 Yahoo! Tuning Group | ''The four before meantone'']</ref>, which appears to be a reference to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mode_of_limited_transposition#Messiaen's_list Olivier Messiaen's 2nd mode of limited transposition, which is also known as the octatonic or ''diminished'' scale]; this scale also divides the octave into four equal parts.<ref>[https://yahootuninggroupsultimatebackup.github.io/tuning-math/topicId_2064#2068 Yahoo! Tuning Group | ''Kleismic & co'' - "Paul [Erlich] suggested 'Octo-diminished', since it can be done very well by the 64-et." —Gene Ward Smith]</ref> but soon switched to sometimes using "diminished"<ref>[https://yahootuninggroupsultimatebackup.github.io/tuning-math/topicId_2009#2027 Yahoo! Tuning Group | ''Meantone & co'']</ref> and sometimes "octatonic", the latter of which was adopted by Joseph Monzo.<ref>[https://yahootuninggroupsultimatebackup.github.io/tuning-math/topicId_3433#3464 Yahoo! Tuning Group | ''some output from Graham's cgi''] - "I think [Joseph] Monz[o] and Paul [Erlich] have been calling it octatonic." —Carl Lumma</ref> Meanwhile, Gene proposed "igor" as a reference to Igor Stravinksy's association with this scale,<ref>[https://yahootuninggroupsultimatebackup.github.io/tuning-math/topicId_3433#3455  Yahoo! Tuning Group | ''some output from Graham's cgi''] - "It's a Paul [Erlich] favorite, since it is associated to the octatonic scale of jazz and Stravinsky. We could call it igor, I suppose." —Gene Ward Smith</ref> but this did not catch on. Eventually "octatonic" was rejected for being too generic,<ref>[https://yahootuninggroupsultimatebackup.github.io/tuning/topicId_35256#35262 Yahoo! Tuning Group | ''Octatonic temperament''] - "I'm not sure 'octatonic' is a good name for the temperament. There must be other temperaments whose basic scale has 8 notes. Isn't this what folks are calling the 'diminished' temperament on tuning-math?" —Dave Keenan</ref> while "diminished" was held to convey the 1/4-octave structure of the temperament better,<ref>[https://yahootuninggroupsultimatebackup.github.io/tuning/topicId_35256#35264 Yahoo! Tuning Group | ''Octatonic temperament''] - "I guess I need a name for this system that doesn't imply there's ''only'' eight notes in the tuning. And 'diminished' does suggest the 1/4-octave framework of the scale, so it's a better name than 'octatonic'." —Herman Miller</ref> and so "diminished" came to predominate.  

As for "dimipent", when Paul released his Middle Path paper, he introduced a naming pattern whereby certain<ref>[https://yahootuninggroupsultimatebackup.github.io/tuning/topicId_97783.html#98172 Yahoo! Tuning Group | ''A short recording of a semi-improvized 3D comma pump'' - "The 'sept'/'pent' distinction was according to a rule I never agreed with. I think it was that the TOP tunings had to be the same for the name to be the same. Gene [Ward Smith] ignores it. I don't care much either way for established names, but I may have to keep "Sensisept" because it exists in a higher limit. I can see the rule makes some sense if we're talking about temperaments, as I understand them. The existence of the rule may indicate Paul [Erlich] was understanding temperaments [sic] a similar way. But as I understand temperament classes (which is similar to how others understand regular temperaments) the tuning is allowed to vary over a wide range. There are subjective rules I follow when I share names over different limits and we can talk about individual cases if you like. I don't have a fixed definition, or deterministic algorithm, for deciding if two things in different limits are the same, and I don't want one." —Graham Breed]</ref> 7-limit extensions to 5-limit temperaments were required to have the same name, except for being suffixed with the numeric prefix "-sept" instead of the numeric prefix "-pent". This applied to three pairs of temperaments:

* "negri", which became "negripent" and "negrisept".

This naming system was unpopular,<ref>[https://yahootuninggroupsultimatebackup.github.io/tuning-math/topicId_10620#10640 Yahoo! Tuning Group | ''Gene's mail server''] - "Anyway, since these names are so ugly, does ''anyone'' have suggestions for renaming them (Dimipent, Dimisept, Negripent, Negrisept, Sensipent, Sensisept) that preserves their approximate alphabetical location?" —Paul Erlich</ref><ref>[https://yahootuninggroupsultimatebackup.github.io/tuning-math/topicId_12957 Yahoo! Tuning Group | ''98 named 7-limit temperaments''] - Shows that there was some support for the -sept prefix from Gene Ward Smith still at this time.</ref> and did not catch on.<ref>[https://yahootuninggroupsultimatebackup.github.io/tuning/topicId_104603#104603 Yahoo! Tuning Group | ''Subgroup temperament naming''] - "The thing we're doing now is analogous to Paul [Erlich]'s having different names for 'negripent' and 'negrisept' and such, which also didn't catch on." —Mike Battaglia</ref> In the case of negri, both negripent and negrisept fell out of use, and the modern convention of giving strong extensions the exact same name (distinguishing them as necessary with "septimal", etc.) was adopted instead, so both the 5-limit and 7-limit were called "negri". For diminished and sensi, however, these became the names for the 7-limit temperaments, while "dimipent" and "sensipent" stuck as names for the 5-limit temperaments. Because these originally 5-limit-specific names both also became the names for their entire temperament families, we can say that the "-pent" suffix in these two cases has lost its original (and indeed all) meaning.

Confusingly, in [[Jean-Philippe Rameau]]'s [[Treatise on Harmony]] from 1722, he called [[2048/2025]] the "diminished comma", and so in a way "diminished temperament" should already have been considered taken; the modern name for 2048/2025, the diaschisma, which gives its name to the diaschismic temperament, comes from [[Hermann von Helmholtz]] much later, in 1875.<ref>[https://yahootuninggroupsultimatebackup.github.io/tuning/topicId_62661#62683 Yahoo! Tuning Groups | ''Diaschisma article'']</ref> The interval [[648/625]], the modern "diminished comma" by virtue of it being the one diminished temperament makes vanish, has been called the "major diesis" or "greater diesis",<ref>[[Wikipedia: Diesis]]</ref> and so "major diesic" was also proposed as a name for this temperament.<ref>[https://yahootuninggroupsultimatebackup.github.io/tuning-math/topicId_2064#2067 Yahoo! Tuning Groups | ''Kleismic & co'']</ref> This would have gone along with [[128/125]] being the "(minor/lesser) diesis" and thus "minor diesic" temperament. Despite this not working out this way (due in part to too many things being named using "diesis"), in the end "diminished" and "augmented" still came out as an opposing pair.

 

 

 

Meaning: Ennealimmal has a 1/9-octave period, hence "ennea-"; the period is very close to the large limma, [[27/25|27/25]], hence "limmal".

 

=== [[Ervsec]] ===

 

=== [[Father]] ===

Origin: 2000s?

 

Meaning: A combination of the words "fourth" and "third." This is meant to represent the unification of perfect fourths and major thirds in Father temperament.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Graham named it "magic" by analogy with miracle; he was listening to the Fleetwood Mac song "You Make Loving Fun" that uses the word "miracle" at the time. Later he coined the backronym "multiple approximations generated iteratively and consistently" also by analogy with miracle.

=== [[Marvel]] ===

Origin: Gene Ward Smith (2003)

Marvel was discovered while investigating slendric temperament, which at the time was called "wonder", and so "marvel" was introduced as an implicit variation on that name; along with miracle, then, there were now three temperaments with names conveying extraordinary goodness, so this began to constitute a temperament naming theme. See the temperament's dedicated page for sources.

=== [[Mavila]] ===

Origin: Erv Wilson (1989)

Meaning: Named after the Chopi village of Mavila in Mozambique, known for their use near-equal heptatonic scales. Nobody can agree on how to pronounce this word. See the temperament's dedicated page for sources.

=== [[Meantone]] ===

Origin: really really old

Meaning: Named so because it maps the major whole tone (9/8) and the minor whole tone (10/9) to the same interval, which is near the average of the two tones in ideal tunings.

=== [[Migration]] ===

Meaning: A temperament closely related to mohajira, which means "migrating".

=== [[Miracle]] ===

Origin: Paul Erlich (May 2001?)

Double meaning: It is a miracle that this scale is so accurate! And it is an acronym "Multiple Integer Ratios Approximated Consistently, Linearly and Evenly."

=== [[Mohajira]] ===

Origin: Jacques Dudon

Meaning: from Arabic مهاجرة ''muhājirah'' which roughly means "migrating".

=== [[Mothra]] ===

Origin: Gene Ward Smith

Named after a Japanese fictional monster: a daikaiju name for a temperament with ~8/7 generator. Mothra has defeated Godzilla more times than any other daikaiju; the musical meaning of this fact is at best speculative.

=== [[Myna]] ===

Myna is related to starling, the 126/125 planar temperament, and a myna is a member of the starling family (Sturnidae). Myna is also a play on minor third, the generator.

=== [[Negri]] ===

Origin: Paul Erlich (2001)

Meaning: Named after John Negri's 10-out-of-19 maximally even scale. See the temperament's dedicated page for sources.

=== [[Octacot]] ===

Meaning: 3/2 is divided into 8 equal parts, therefore "octa-".

=== [[Orgone]] ===

Origin: Andrew Heathwaite (2010)

Meaning: An analogy between Wilhelm Reich's proposal for an invisible, ephemeral creative energy and the subtleties of the higher harmonics 7 and 11. Superkleismic can be viewed as orgone extended to the full 11-limit.

=== [[Orwell]] ===

Origin: Gene Ward Smith (2001)

Meaning: Named after George Orwell's book 1984, because of the generator of 19\84.

=== [[Pajara]] ===

Origin: Originally (up to 2001) paultone and then twintone, in analogy with meantone, but Paul Erlich didn't like this and suggested pajara, after "Paul, John, and Ara," the three people jamming at his house at some random point in time.

=== [[Porcupine]] ===

Origin: Herman Miller (1999)

Meaning: Named after Herman Miller's Mizarian Porcupine Overture in 15edo.

=== [[Quadritikleismic]] ===

Has a kleismic generator, so that (6/5)⁶ = 3, and four periods per octave, therefore quadri-.

=== [[Rodan]] ===

Origin: Gene Ward Smith

Named after a Japanese fictional monster. A daikaiju name, from the 8/7 generator.

=== [[Semaphore]] ===

Meaning: semi-fourth, i.e. half of a 4/3.

=== [[Semisept]] ===

Meaning: semi-(septimal major sixth), i.e. half of a 12/7.<ref>Evidence for this interpretation can be found here, though the writer does not confirm it: [https://yahootuninggroupsultimatebackup.github.io/tuning-math/topicId_16972#16979 Yahoo! Tuning Group | ''Complete Rank 2 Temperament Searches'']</ref>

=== [[Sensi]] ===

Originally semisixths, but after it was decided that "bi" or "semi" should be half for periods and "hemi" should be half for generators, that was contracted to sensi.<ref>[https://yahootuninggroupsultimatebackup.github.io/tuning/topicId_97722.html#97733 ''Temperament names''] "The idea here is to use 'hemi' only when the generator is split in towo, not when the period is split in two." —Gene Ward Smith</ref>

For more information on the origin of the "-pent" part of "sensipent", see [[#Dimipent|Dimipent]].

=== [[Slendric]] ===

Named after [[slendro]], because a just tuning for slendro may be realized as {{dash|8/7, 8/7, 147/128, 8/7, 7/6}}, with [[1029/1024]] as the difference between [[8/7]] and [[147/128]].<ref>Miller, L. E., & Lieberman, F. (1999). ''Lou Harrison and the American Gamelan''. American Music, 17(2), 146–178. https://doi.org/10.2307/3052712</ref>

=== [[Squares]] ===

Named from the fact that the wedgie is {{multival|4 16 9 … }}, which is 2², 4², 3².

=== [[Starling]] ===

Origin: Herman Miller (1999)

The 126/125 planar temperament, named after Herman Miller's Starling scale. See the temperament's dedicated page for sources.  

=== [[Srutal]] ===

A name proposed by Paul Erlich because the 22-tone MOS looks a lot like the Indian Shruti scale.

=== [[Superkleismic]] ===

The 6/5 generator is ~322 cents, sharper than the kleismic 6/5, hence "super-". Can be restricted to 2.7.11 (orgone) or 2.5/3.7.11 (magicaltet).

=== [[Superpyth]] ===

Meaning: Fifths are sharper than the just ratio of 3/2, hence "Superpythagorean"

=== [[Tetracot]] ===

Meaning: 3/2 is divided into 4 equal parts, hence "tetra-". Not sure why "-cot" (see Dicot above).

=== [[Triforce]] ===

Triforce has 3 periods per octave, hence tri-.

=== [[Tritikleismic]] ===

Tritikleismic has a kleismic generator, so that (6/5)⁶ = 3, and 3 periods per octave (therefore tri-.)

=== [[Valentine]] ===

Named for Robert C Valentine.

=== [[Whitewood]] ===

Origin: Mike Battaglia (2010)<ref>[https://yahootuninggroupsultimatebackup.github.io/tuning/topicId_95296.html Yahoo! Tuning Group | ''7&14 temperament - 14 out of 35'']</ref>

Meaning: Black keys are to Blackwood as white keys are to Whitewood.

=== [[Würschmidt]] ===

Named for physicist José Würschmidt.

== Notes ==