User:Ganaram inukshuk/TAMNAMS Extension
This is a system for describing and naming mos scales beyond the set of named TAMNAMS mosses. Both User:Frostburn (User:Frostburn/TAMNAMS Extension) and I have similar systems for how to name mos descendants. However, this page describes several more systems that apply to non-octave mosses.
The scope of this TAMNAMS extension is as follows:
- Systematically name mosses beyond the named range by how they're related to TAMNAMS-named mosses. The most common way of doing this is by considering what mosses descend from a TAMNAMS-named mos.
- Secondarily, propose unique names for certain mosses in case they're worth having distinct names. Some of these names are old names that have been around long enough to be memorable.
- Systematically name mosses for non-octave equaves, namely fifth and tritave-equivalent mosses.
- Systematically name mosses regardless of the equave. Such names should be as general as possible.
Naming mos descendants
To name mosses that have more than 10 notes, rather than giving mosses unique names, names are based on how they're related to another (named) mos and, optionally, what step ratio is needed for the parent to produce that mos.
| Base names | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parent mos | Child (1st descendant) | Grandchild (2nd descendant) | Great-grandchild (3rd descendant) | kth descendant | |||||||
| (mos-name) | (step-ratio)-chromatic (mos-name)
(step-ratio)-chro (mos-name) (step-ratio)-(mos-prefix)enharmonic |
(step-ratio)-enharmonic (mos-name)
(step-ratio)-enhar (mos-name) (step-ratio)-(mos-prefix)enharmonic |
(step-ratio)-subchromatic (mos-name)
(step-ratio)-subchro (mos-name) (step-ratio)-(mos-prefix)subchromatic |
(kth) (mos-name) descendant
(kth)-(mos-prefix)descendant | |||||||
| Step ratio prefixes (optional) | |||||||||||
| Parent mos | Child (1st descendant) | Grandchild (2nd descendant) | Great-grandchild (3rd descendant) | kth descendant | |||||||
| Mos | L:s range | Mos | L:s range | Prefix | Mos | L:s range | Prefix | Mos | L:s range | Prefix | Prefixes not applicable |
| xL ys | 1:1 to 1:0 | (x+y)L xs | 1:1 to 2:1
(general soft range) |
s- | (x+y)L (2x+y)s | 1:1 to 3:2
(soft) |
s- | (x+y)L (3x+2y)s | 1:1 to 4:3
(ultrasoft) |
us- | |
| (3x+2y)L (x+y)s | 4:3 to 3:2
(parasoft) |
ps- | |||||||||
| (2x+y)L (x+y)s | 3:2 to 2:1
(hyposoft) |
os- | (3x+2y)L (2x+y)s | 3:2 to 5:3
(quasisoft) |
qs- | ||||||
| (2x+y)L (3x+2y)s | 5:3 to 2:1
(minisoft) |
ms- | |||||||||
| xL (x+y)s | 2:1 to 1:0
(general hard range) |
h- | (2x+y)L xs | 2:1 to 3:1
(hypohard) |
oh- | (2x+y)L (3x+y)s | 2:1 to 5:1
(minihard) |
mh- | |||
| (3x+y)L (2x+y)s | 5:2 to 3:1
(quasihard) |
qh- | |||||||||
| xL (2x+y)s | 3:1 to 1:0
(hard) |
h- | (3x+y)L xs | 3:1 to 4:1
(parahard) |
ph- | ||||||
| xL (3x+y)s | 4:1 to 1:0
(ultrahard) |
uh- | |||||||||
Mos descendant names have two main forms: a multi-part name, where the base name (chromatic, enharmonic, subchromatic, and descendant) and mos name are separate words, and a one-part name, formed by prefixing the mos's prefix to the base names. The latter is recommended for mosses with no more than three periods, as the only 4 and 5-period mosses named by TAMNAMS are tetrawood and pentawood respectively. If a step ratio is specified for the former, it may be written out fully instead of prefixed to the base word.
The term kth descendant can be used to refer to any mos that descends from another mos, regardless of how many generations apart the two are. To find the number of generations n separating the two mosses, use the following algorithm:
- Let z and w be the number of large and small steps of the parent mos to be found. Assign to z and w the values x and y respectively. Let n = 0, where n is the number of generations away from zL ws.
- Let m1 be equal to max(z, w) and m2 be equal to min(z, w).
- Assign to z the value m2 and w the value m1-m2. Increment n by 1.
- If the sum of z and w is no more than 10, then the parent mos is zL ws and is n generations from the mos descendant xL ys. If not, repeat the process starting at step 2.
As diatonic (5L 2s) doesn't have a prefix, the terms chromatic, enharmonic, and subchromatic by themselves (and with no other context suggesting a non-diatonic mos) refer to 1st (child), 2nd (grandchild), and 3rd (great-grandchild) diatonic descendants. For consistency, mos descendant names apply to mosses whose child mosses exceed 10 notes. Since all mosses ultimately descend from some nL ns mos, every possible descendant up to 5 periods will be related to a named mos.
| 6-note mosses | Chromatic mosses | Enharmonic mosses | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pattern | Name | Patterns | Names | Patterns | Names |
| 1L 5s | antimachinoid | 1L 6s, 6L 1s | n/a | 1A 7B, 6A 7B | n/a |
| 2L 4s | malic | 2L 6s, 6L 2s | n/a | 2A 8B, 6A 8B | n/a |
| 3L 3s | triwood | 3L 6s, 6L 3s | n/a | 3A 9B, 6A 9B | n/a |
| 4L 2s | citric | 4L 6s, 6L 4s | n/a | 4A 10B, 6A 10B | n/a |
| 5L 1s | machinoid | 5L 6s, 6L 5s | mechromatic | 5A 11B, 6A 11B | mechenharmonic |
| 7-note mosses | Chromatic mosses | Enharmonic mosses | |||
| Pattern | Name | Patterns | Names | Patterns | Names |
| 1L 6s | onyx | 1L 7s, 7L 1s | n/a | 1A 8B, 7A 8B | n/a |
| 2L 5s | antidiatonic | 2L 7s, 7L 2s | n/a | 2A 9B, 7A 9B | n/a |
| 3L 4s | mosh | 3L 7s, 7L 3s | n/a | 3A 10B, 7A 10B | n/a |
| 4L 3s | smitonic | 4L 7s, 7L 4s | smichromatic | 4A 11B, 7A 11B | smienharmonic |
| 5L 2s | diatonic | 5L 7s, 7L 5s | chromatic | 5A 12B, 7A 12B | enharmonic |
| 6L 1s | arch(a)eotonic | 6L 7s, 7L 6s | archeoromatic | 6A 13B, 7A 13B | archeoenharmonic |
| 8-note mosses | Chromatic mosses | Enharmonic mosses | |||
| Pattern | Name | Patterns | Names | Patterns | Names |
| 1L 7s | antipine | 1L 8s, 8L 1s | n/a | 1A 9B, 8A 9B | n/a |
| 2L 6s | subaric | 2L 8s, 8L 2s | n/a | 2A 10B, 8A 10B | n/a |
| 3L 5s | checkertonic | 3L 8s, 8L 3s | checkchromatic | 3A 11B, 8A 11B | checkenharmonic |
| 4L 4s | tetrawood; diminished | 4L 8s, 8L 4s | chromatic tetrawood | 4A 12B, 8A 12B | enharmonic tetrawood |
| 5L 3s | oneirotonic | 5L 8s, 8L 5s | oneirochromatic | 5A 13B, 8A 13B | oneiroenharmonic |
| 6L 2s | ekic | 6L 8s, 8L 6s | ekchromatic | 6A 14B, 8A 14B | ekenharmonic |
| 7L 1s | pine | 7L 8s, 8L 7s | pinechromatic | 7A 15B, 8A 15B | pinenharmonic |
| 9-note mosses | Chromatic mosses | Enharmonic mosses | |||
| Pattern | Name | Patterns | Names | Patterns | Names |
| 1L 8s | antisubneutralic | 1L 9s, 9L 1s | n/a | 1A 10B, 9A 10B | n/a |
| 2L 7s | balzano | 2L 9s, 9L 2s | balchromatic | 2A 11B, 9A 11B | balenharmonic |
| 3L 6s | tcherepnin | 3L 9s, 9L 3s | cherchromatic | 3A 12B, 9A 12B | cherenharmonic |
| 4L 5s | gramitonic | 4L 9s, 9L 4s | gramchromatic | 4A 13B, 9A 13B | gramenharmonic |
| 5L 4s | semiquartal | 5L 9s, 9L 5s | chtonchromatic | 5A 14B, 9A 14B | chtonenharmonic |
| 6L 3s | hyrulic | 6L 9s, 9L 6s | hyruchromatic | 6A 15B, 9A 15B | hyrenharmonic |
| 7L 2s | superdiatonic | 7L 9s, 9L 7s | armchromatic | 7A 16B, 9A 16B | armenharmonic |
| 8L 1s | subneutralic | 8L 9s, 9L 8s | bluchromatic | 8A 17B, 9A 17B | bluenharmonic |
| 10-note mosses | Chromatic mosses | Enharmonic mosses | |||
| Pattern | Name | Patterns | Names | Patterns | Names |
| 1L 9s | antisinatonic | 1L 10s, 10L 1s | asinachromatic | 1A 11B, 10A 11B | asinenharmonic |
| 2L 8s | jaric | 2L 10s, 10L 2s | jarachromatic | 2A 12B, 10A 12B | jaraenharmonic |
| 3L 7s | sephiroid | 3L 10s, 10L 3s | sephchromatic | 3A 13B, 10A 13B | sephenharmonic |
| 4L 6s | lime | 4L 10s, 10L 4s | limechromatic | 4A 14B, 10A 14B | limenharmonic |
| 5L 5s | pentawood | 5L 10s, 10L 5s | chromatic pentawood | 5A 15B, 10A 15B | enharmonic pentawood |
| 6L 4s | lemon | 6L 10s, 10L 6s | lemchromatic | 6A 16B, 10A 16B | lemenharmonic |
| 7L 3s | dicoid | 7L 10s, 10L 7s | dicochromatic | 7A 17B, 10A 17B | dicoenharmonic |
| 8L 2s | taric | 8L 10s, 10L 8s | tarachromatic | 8A 18B, 10A 18B | tarenharmonic |
| 9L 1s | sinatonic | 9L 10s, 10L 9s | sinachromatic | 9A 19B, 10A 19B | sinenharmonic |
Names for mosses beyond 10 notes
This section outlines proposed names and naming suggestions for mosses beyond 10 notes.
Extended k-wood names
To name mos descendants with more than 5 periods, the names for wood mosses are extended to hexawood, heptawood, octawood, enneawood, and decawood. (This is not too different from Frostburn's proposal.) Names for descendants for these scales follow the same scheme as with other TAMNAMS-named mosses.
| Mos | Name | Prefix | Abbrev. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6L 6s | hexawood | hexwd- | hxw |
| 7L 7s | heptawood | hepwd- | hpw |
| 8L 8s | octawood | octwd- | ocw |
| 9L 9s | enneawood | ennwd- | enw |
| 10L 10s | decawood | dekwd- | dkw |
| 11L 11s | 11-wood | 11-wud- | 11wd |
| 12L 12s | 12-wood | 12-wud | 12wd |
| etc... |
Specific names for mosses beyond 10 notes (proposed)
These names are intended for notable mosses outside the named range for which its mos descendant name would be insufficient.
| 11-note mosses | ||
|---|---|---|
| Mos | Suggested name(s) | Reasoning |
| 1L 10s | tanzanite or tenorite | More naming puns (tenzanite or tenorite) |
| 2L 9s | joanatonic | Restoration of an old name that applied to its parent scale |
| 3L 8s | squaroid | Restoration of an old name |
| 4L 7s | kleistonic | Restoration of an old name |
| 5L 6s | xeimtonic | Restoration of an old name |
| 6L 5s | ||
| 7L 4s | suprasmitonic | Restoration of an old name |
| 8L 3s | sentonic or sensoid | Modification or restoration of an old name that applied to its parent scale |
| 9L 2s | villatonic, ultradiatonic, or superarmotonic | Indirectly references avila and casablanca (Spanish for "white house", and a villa is a type of house) temperaments
Latter two names are suggested by CompactStar |
| 10L 1s | miratonic or miraculoid | Modification or restoration of an old name (miraculoid); reference miracle temperament |
| 12-note mosses | ||
| Mos | Suggested name(s) | Reasoning |
| 1L 11s | helenite | In reference to the "ele" substring found in the word "eleven" |
| 2L 10s | rujaric | Named based off of injera and shrutar temperaments |
| 3L 9s | sergic | Named after one of Alexander Nikolayevich Tcherepnin's sons |
| 4L 8s | ||
| 5L 7s | pychromatic or p-chromatic | Modification or restoration of an old name (p-chromatic) |
| 6L 6s | hexawood | Extension of -wood scales; coincidentally references hexe temperament |
| 7L 5s | emchromatic or m-chromatic | Modification or restoration of an old name (m-chromatic) |
| 8L 4s | ||
| 9L 3s | ivanic | Named after one of Alexander Nikolayevich Tcherepnin's sons |
| 10L 2s | talaric | Names based off of srutal/pajara temepraments |
| 11L 1s | ripploid | Restoration of an old name |
| 13-note mosses | ||
| Mos | Suggested name(s) | Reasoning |
| 1L 12s | zircon | Zircon is used as a birthstone for December |
| 2L 11s | litonic | Portmanteau of liese, triton, and tritonic temperaments |
| 3L 10s | magitonic or mystic | In reference to magic temperament |
| 4L 9s | huxloga | Portmanteau of huxley, lovecraft, and gariberttet temperaments |
| 5L 8s | ||
| 6L 7s | ||
| 7L 6s | tetarquintal | In reference to temperaments that divide the perfect 5th (3/2) into four |
| 8L 5s | petroid | Restoration of an old name |
| 9L 4s | orwelloid | Restoration of an old name that applied to its parent scale |
| 10L 3s | luachoid | Already proposed name |
| 11L 2s | maioquartal or hendecoid | In reference to the "major fourths" scale used by Tcherepnin; the latter is proposed by Eliora |
| 12L 1s | quasidozenal | Meant to invoke the phrase "almost twelve" |
Names for mos linear families (proposed)
Rather than name mosses related by the number of large steps they have, where the mosses are of the form xL (nx + y)s and relate back to a mos xL ys (n=0), these mosses can be described as members of a family. An example of such a family is the mos sequence 5L 2s, 5L 7s, 5L 12s, 5L 17s, etc, where each successive mos has 5 more small steps than the last. By extension, the mos 7L 5s (the sister of 5L 7s) is not seen as a member of this linear family even though it's part of the diatonic family as a whole, but rather as the start of its own linear family; put another way, the mosses 5L 2s, 5L 7s, 5L 12s, 5L 17s, etc are a subfamily within the larger diatonic family.
Mosses in a linear family are based on repeated applications of the replacement ruleset L->Ls and s->s on the initial mos, and reaching the nth member of a linear family requires the initial mos have a hard or pseudocollapsed step ratio. The child mos (x+y)L xs is the start of its own linear family, which relates back to the initial mos xL ys if the initial mos has a step ratio that is soft or pseudoequalized.
Names for these families describe a subset of a mos descendant family, and most mos families go by the name of (mos name) linear family or (mos-prefix)linear family.
| Trivial families (names not based on "linear") | ||
|---|---|---|
| Mos | Name | Reasoning |
| 1L (n+1)s | monolarge family | Represents an entire family of mosses formerly unnamed by TAMNAMS
The name "monolarge" is chosen as it succinctly describes the only possible 1L family |
| 2L (2n+1)s | bilarge family | Named analogously to the monolarge family |
| 3L (3n+1)s | trilarge family | Named analogously to the monolarge family
Prevents potential confusion with the name "tetralinear" |
| Families with 3 large steps | ||
| Mos | Name | Reasoning |
| 3L (3n+2)s | apentilinear family | Named after anpentic |
| Families with 4 large steps | ||
| Mos | Name | Reasoning |
| 4L (4n+1)s | manulinear family | Named after manual |
| 4L (4n+3)s | smilinear family | Named after smitonic |
| Families with 5 large steps | ||
| Mos | Name | Reasoning |
| 5L (5n+1)s | mechlinear family | Named after machinoid (prefix mech-) |
| 5L (5n+2)s | p-linear family | Named after p-chromatic rather than diatonic, which has no prefix |
| 5L (5n+3)s | oneirolinear family | Named after oneirotonic |
| 5L (5n+4)s | chtonlinear family | Named after semiquartal (prefix chton-) |
| Families with 6 large steps | ||
| Mos | Name | Reasoning |
| 6L (6n+1)s | archeolinear family | Named after archeotonic |
| 6L (6n+5)s | xeimlinear family | Named after xeimtonic, a former name for 6L 5s |
| Families with 7 large steps | ||
| Mos | Name | Reasoning |
| 7L (7n+1)s | pinelinear family | Named after pine |
| 7L (7n+2)s | armlinear family | Named after superdiatonic (also called armotonic) |
| 7L (7n+3)s | dicolinear family | Named after dicotonic |
| 7L (7n+4)s | prasmilinear family | Named after a truncation of a former name for 7L 4s (suprasmitonic) |
| 7L (7n+5)s | m-linear family | Named after m-chromaticralic (prefix blu-) |
| 8L (8n+3)s | ||
| 8L (8n+5)s | petrlinear family | Named after petroid, a former name for 8L 5s |
| 8L (8n+7)s | ||
| Families with 9 large steps | ||
| Mos | Name | Reasoning |
| 9L (9n+1)s | sinalinear family | Named after sinatonic |
| 9L (9n+2)s | ||
| 9L (9n+4)s | ||
| 9L (9n+5)s | ||
| 9L (9n+7)s | ||
| 9L (9n+8)s | ||
Non-octave extensions (proposed)
Since the perfect 5th and tritave (or perfect 12th) are the two most common non-octave equivalence intervals for which there are scales described, mosses for these two intervals should be the most likely to receive TAMNAMS-like names. For mosses with any other equivalence interval, describing nested mos structures, or in situations where the notion of an equivalence interval is unimportant, equave-agnostic names are proposed.
Names for tritave and fifth-equivalent mosses are assumed to be the same name as their equave-agnostic equivalent, unless a fitting name is already given.
Equave-agnostic names (proposed)
This is a proposed scheme to name mosses regardless of the equivalence interval, These names are meant for nonoctave mosses and nested mos patterns such as with a mos cradle. These names are not final and are open to better suggestions.
| 4-note mosses (new names only) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mos | Name | Multi-period? | Prefix | Abbrev. |
| 2L 2s | double trivial | Yes (2) | 2triv- | 2trv |
| 6-note mosses | ||||
| Mos | Name | Multi-period? | Prefix | Abbrev. |
| 1L 5s | anhexic | No | ahex- | ahx |
| 2L 4s | double antrial | Yes (2) | 2atri- | 2tri |
| 3L 3s | triple trivial | Yes (3) | 3triv- | 3trv |
| 4L 2s | double trial | Yes (2) | 2tri- | 2tri |
| 5L 1s | hexic | No | hex- | hx |
| 7-note mosses | ||||
| Mos | Name | Multi-period? | Prefix | Abbrev. |
| 1L 6s | ansaptic | No | ansap- | asp |
| 2L 5s | anheptic | No | anhep- | ahp |
| 3L 4s | anseptenic | No | ansep- | asep |
| 4L 3s | septenic | No | sep- | sep |
| 5L 2s | heptic | No | hep- | hp |
| 6L 1s | saptic | No | sap- | sp |
| 8-note mosses | ||||
| Mos | Name | Multi-period? | Prefix | Abbrev. |
| 1L 7s | anastaic | No | anast- | aast |
| 2L 6s | double antetric | Yes (2) | 2atetra- | 2att |
| 3L 5s | anoctic | No | anoct- | aoct |
| 4L 4s | quadruple trivial | Yes (4) | 4triv- | 4trv |
| 5L 3s | octic | No | oct- | oct |
| 6L 2s | double tetric | Yes (2) | 2tetra- | 2tt |
| 7L 1s | astaic | No | ast- | ast |
| 9-note mosses | ||||
| Mos | Name | Multi-period? | Prefix | Abbrev. |
| 1L 8s | annavic | No | annav- | anv |
| 2L 7s | anennaic | No | anenn- | aenn |
| 3L 6s | triple antrial | Yes (3) | 3atri- | 3atri |
| 4L 5s | annovemic | No | annov- | anv |
| 5L 4s | novemic | No | nov- | nv |
| 6L 3s | triple trial | Yes (3) | 3tri- | 3tri |
| 7L 2s | ennaic | No | enn- | enn |
| 8L 1s | navic | No | nav- | nv |
| 10-note mosses | ||||
| Mos | Name | Multi-period? | Prefix | Abbrev. |
| 1L 9s | andashic | No | andash- | adsh |
| 2L 8s | double pedal | Yes (2) | 2ped- | 2ped |
| 3L 7s | andeckic | No | andeck- | adek |
| 4L 6s | double pentic | Yes (2) | 2pent- | 2pt |
| 5L 5s | quintuple trivial | Yes (5) | 5triv- | 5trv |
| 6L 4s | double anpentic | Yes (2) | 2apent- | 2apt |
| 7L 3s | deckic | No | deck- | dek |
| 8L 2s | double manual | Yes (2) | 2manu- | 2manu |
| 9L 1s | dashic | No | dash- | dsh |
Names for these mosses are meant to be as general as possible, starting with established names that are already equave-agnostic: trivial, (an)trial, (an)tetric, (an)pentic, and pedal/manual. Mosses are named in pairs of xL ys and yL xs, where the mos with more small steps than large steps is given the an- prefix, short for anti-; this rule doesn't apply to pentic (2L 3s) and anpentic (3L 2s), where the former is the familiar pentatonic scale.
As there is only one pair of 6-note single-period mosses, 5L 1s and 1L 5s, the pair is named hexic.
With 7-note mosses, there are three pairs of mosses, whose names are based on three languages: Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit. The pair 5L 2s and 2L 5s are given the Greek-based name of heptic, as 5L 2s is the familiar diatonic scale. The next pair, 3L 4s and 4L 3s, are given the Latin-based name of septenic. The last pair, 1L 6s and 6L 1s, are given the Sanskrit-based name of saptic.
This pattern is continued for all successive sequences of mosses for each successive note count: 1L ns and nL 1s are given a Sanskrit-based name, the next single-period pair after that are given a Greek-based name, and the next single-period pair after that are given a Latin-based name. The two 8-note pairs are named astaic (7L 1s and 1L 7s) and octic (5L 3s and 3L 5s) respectively. The three 9-note pairs are named navic (8L 1s and 1L 8s), ennaic (7L 2s and 2L 7s), and novemic (4L 5s and 5L 4s). Finally the two 10-note pairs are named dashic (9L 1s and 1L 9s) and dekic (7L 3s and 3L 7s).
11-note mosses require naming five pairs, so this naming scheme stops at 10-note mosses.
Since the equivalence interval can be anything, names for multi-period mosses are named as a smaller mos repeated (double, triple, quadruple, etc) some number of times. The prefix and abbreviation of the base mos is preceded by the number of duplications. For example, 2L 2s is double trivial, its prefix is 2triv-, and its abbreviation is 2trv.
Names for 3/2-equivalent mosses (proposed)
| 4-note mosses <3/2> | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mos | Name | Prefix | Abbrev. | Reasoning |
| 1L 3s | neptunian | nept- | nep | Name proposed by CompactStar, analogous to uranian |
| 5-note mosses <3/2> | ||||
| Mos | Name | Prefix | Abbrev. | Reasoning |
| 3L 2s | uranian | ura- | ura | Already-existing name |
Names for 3/1-equivalent mosses (proposed)
| 7-note mosses <3/1> | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mos | Name | Prefix | Abbrev. | Reasoning |
| 4L 3s | electric | elec- | ele | Name proposed by CompactStar |
| 9-note mosses <3/1> | ||||
| Mos | Name | Prefix | Abbrev. | Reasoning |
| 4L 5s | lambdatonic | lam- | lam | "lambda" already refers to tritave-equivalent 4L 5s |
Reasoning for names
The overall motivation for these names is to give names to closely related mosses and refer to individual mosses as some member of a broader family, rather than name individual mosses. Various terms have been used to similarly describe child mosses, but not under a temperament-agnostic viewpoint.
| Source of terms | Grandparent (2nd predecessor) | Parent (1st predecessor) | Mos | Child (1st descendant) | Grandchild (2nd descendant) | Great-grandchild (3rd descendant) | kth descendant |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| From Diatonic, Chromatic, Enharmonic, Subchromatic | n/a | n/a | diatonic | chromatic | enharmonic | subchromatic | n/a |
| From Chromatic pairs | sub-haplotonic
(not called this on page) |
haplotonic | albitonic | chromatic | mega-chromatic | n/a | |
| mega-albitonic | chromatic | mega-chromatic | |||||
| Terminology used for this page | n/a | n/a | mos | chromatic mos | enharmonic mos | subchromatic mos | kth descendant |
The format of adding a mos's prefix to the terms descendant, chromatic, enharmonic, and subchromatic is best applied to mosses that have no more than three periods. With mosses that descend directly from nL ns mosses especially (4L 4s and above), this is to keep names from being too complicated (eg, chromatic (number)-wood instead of (number)-woodchromatic).
Various people have suggested the use of p- and m- as prefixes to refer to specific chromatic mosses, as well as the use of f- and s- for enharmonic mosses. Generalizing the pattern to 3rd mos descendants shows the letters diverging from one another, notably where m- is no longer next to p- and f- and s- are no longer along the extremes. Rather than using these letters, as well as being temperament-agnostic, prefixes based on step ratios are used instead. However, temperament-based prefixes may be used specifically for diatonic descendants as alternatives to the prefixes based on step ratios.
| Diatonic scale | Chromatic mosses | Enharmonic mosses | Subchromatic mosses | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steps | Temp-based prefix | Ratio-based prefix | Steps | Temp-based prefix | Ratio-based prefix | Steps | Temp-based prefix | Ratio-based prefix | |
| 5L 2s | 7L 5s | m- (from meantone) | s- | 7L 12s | f- (from flattone) | s- | 7L 19s | t- (from tridecimal) | us- |
| 19L 7s | f- (from flattone) | ps- | |||||||
| 12L 7s | m- (from meantone) | os- | 19L 12s | m- (from meanpop) | qs- | ||||
| 12L 19s | h- (from huygens) | ms- | |||||||
| 5L 7s | p- (from pythagorean) | h- | 12L 5s | p- (from pythagorean) | oh- | 12L 17s | p- (from pythagorean) | mh- | |
| 17L 12s | g- (from gentle) | qh- | |||||||
| 5L 12s | s- (from superpyth) | h- | 17L 5s | s- (from superpyth) | ph- | ||||
| 5L 17s | u- (from ultrapyth) | uh- | |||||||