Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2008 June 18

= June 18 =

novel person
what is the term which means a female novel person?Macmayi (talk) 04:29, 18 June 2008 (UTC)macmayi
 * Are you asking about the term for the main female character in a novel? You could refer to her as the protagonist (unisex) or heroine.  Gwinva (talk) 04:35, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. Neither I is not sure about the question. A NOVELIST is the one ewho writes novels. Then you said PROTAGANIST which is the leading character in a literary work. Is there such term which means a NOVEL PERSON? The questions is, "What do you call a female novel person?" The puzzled word given as a clue is (USMQESAR). Pls help me jumble the letters to get the right answer. Is it Masquer? Thank youMacmayi (talk) 05:01, 18 June 2008 (UTC)
 * That anagrams to marquess, but that's not female, nor does it have to do with novels. СПУТНИК CCC  P 05:05, 18 June 2008 (UTC)
 * Is this some kind of cryptic crossword clue? If so, perhaps we need to think more laterally (a neonate is a "novel person" by some definitions, for instance). I'm not sure how Marquess would tie in to any meaning of "female novel person", though, unless there was a famous writer of female novels (?) who was a Marquess. Grutness...wha?  05:15, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

Thank you. Yes, MARQUESS is right. This is a nephew's homework which i can hardly answer. Maybe because the question (or my nephew's spelling) was wrong. The question should have been-- NOBLEMAN or NOBLE PERSON instead of a novel person. Isn't 'marquis' or 'marquess' unisex? Macmayi (talk) 05:42, 18 June 2008 (UTC)


 * No, marquess is male; marchioness is female. So another mistake in the question! Gwinva (talk) 05:49, 18 June 2008 (UTC)


 * That's 99.99% true, Gwinva. Anne Boleyn was made a marquess (not a marchioness) in her own right, the only woman ever accorded this distinction.  Not that it did her any good in the end.  --  JackofOz (talk) 06:00, 18 June 2008 (UTC)
 * That'd be marquise, surely? Gwinva (talk) 06:02, 18 June 2008 (UTC)
 * I don't think that marquise has ever been used in Britain. She's often referred to, incorrectly but understandably, as the Marchioness of Pembroke, but it seems she really was the Marquess of Pembroke.  --  JackofOz (talk) 06:07, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

Excellent. Marchioness is a noblewoman ranking above a countess & below a duchess. It is also called marquise. Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Macmayi (talk • contribs) 06:05, 18 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Marquise is used in France, marchioness in Britain. Except for Anne Boleyn.  --  JackofOz (talk) 06:09, 18 June 2008 (UTC)
 * Isn't one of Queen Elizabeth's titles Duke of Somewhere (specifically not Duchess of Somewhere)? I vaguely remember something about her having one masculine title. —Angr 14:01, 18 June 2008 (UTC)


 * She's the Duke of Lancaster and the Duke of Normandy; also the Lord of Mann, and probably a few others as well. There's a full list of titles and honours if you want to browse for more! -- tiny plastic Grey Knight   &#x2296;  14:23, 18 June 2008 (UTC)
 * She's also the Duchess of Edinburgh. She was known as this between her marriage in November 1947 and her accession to the throne in February 1952, and she still holds the title although it and all her other titles are subsumed in her queenly title.    --  JackofOz (talk) 04:05, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

Music terminology questions
"In the newer triadic harmonic system, however, the tritone became permissible, as it could form part of a consonant, yet unstable, dominant seventh chord."
 * What does "harmonicity" mean?68.148.164.166 (talk) 05:46, 18 June 2008 (UTC)
 * What does "triadic harmonic system" mean?68.148.164.166 (talk) 06:03, 18 June 2008 (UTC)
 * What does "unstable" mean in this itemthing?68.148.164.166 (talk)

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmony#Historical_rules

"Fortepianos from the start had devices similar to the pedals of modern pianos; but these were not always pedals: sometimes hand stops or knee levers were used instead."
 * What does "knee levers" mean:

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortepiano#Construction


 * (3rd paragraph)? Please and thank you.68.148.164.166 (talk) 06:26, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

""The fortepiano itself presents formidable challenges for both the player and the recording production team; the many mechanical noises and occasional changes to intonation are endemic to the instrument, and a part of the full musical experience -- especially when one considers that Beethoven's last sonatas push the fortepiano to its technical limits (or beyond as many would argue).""
 * Knee lever A lever mounted beneath the keyboard area of the piano, operated by raising the player's knee, most often used to raise the dampers on German and Austrian pianos before 1820, after which date pedals were favoured. Such knee levers were provided by Stein from at least 1769. As many as three or even four knee levers were sometimes fitted to operate a variety of stops. Cole, M. (1998). The pianoforte in the classical era. p. 381. .&mdash;eric 06:35, 18 June 2008 (UTC)
 * What does "intonation" mean?68.148.164.166 (talk) 06:36, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortepiano#Obsolescence_and_revival

"In the post-fortepiano era of the 19th century, the damper pedal became the foundation of piano sound, which came to rely on the sympathetic vibrations of the undamped but unstruck strings.[citation needed]"
 * What does "sympathetic vibrations" mean:

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortepiano#Silbermann_fortepianos ?68.148.164.166 (talk) 07:10, 18 June 2008 (UTC)


 * These seem to be questions about musical terminology rather than language. Paul Davidson (talk) 06:44, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

It seems you are looking for a comprehensive overview of musical theory. Please have a look at the following articles. The first one should hopefully include links off to our articles on whatever subjects you require. PS: I have gathered all your questions into one section as they appear to be related. -- tiny plastic Grey Knight  &#x2296;  08:32, 18 June 2008 (UTC)
 * music theory
 * piano pedals
 * intonation (music)
 * sympathetic vibration
 * triad (music)
 * harmonic / harmony


 * A google search on "harmonicity" seems to indicate that it is a measure of a tone's harmonics to its inharmonics, which seems to relate in some way to how well the tone is heard as having a distinct pitch. Pfly (talk) 07:30, 20 June 2008 (UTC)

"surf life-saving clubs"
What does "surf life-saving clubs" mean:

"nippers

nipper (plural nippers)

any of various devices (as pincers) for nipping -- usually used in plural (slang) A child (slang) Young child in the Australian surf life-saving clubs."

- http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nipper#Noun ?68.148.164.166 (talk) 08:50, 18 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Please see Surf Life Saving Club. I think most of your questions could be answered by the search box, are you trying it before coming here?  In each of your questions I managed to find a relevant article very quickly by this method.  If you're having trouble using the search box, please ask someone for assistance.  Thank you! -- tiny plastic Grey Knight   &#x2296;  09:07, 18 June 2008 (UTC)
 * Surf Life Saving Australia is also useful. Nippers is the club for children.  Gwinva (talk) 09:09, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

"tone quality"
Last paragraph:

"Patterns of pitch and duration are of primary importance in common practice melody, while tone quality is of secondary importance. Durations recur and are often periodic; pitches are generally diatonic."

- DeLone et al. (Eds.), 1975, chapter 4

What does "tone quality" mean?68.148.164.166 (talk) 09:22, 18 June 2008 (UTC)


 * There is an exact-match article on this: tone quality. Arguably most or all of your queries should have been wikilinked into the original articles, but you can deal with this by using the search box on the sidebar and then editing the articles yourself if you like.  We're basically just doing that by proxy for you.  Do you need some help with searching? -- tiny plastic Grey Knight   &#x2296;  09:27, 18 June 2008 (UTC)


 * And Grey also added a link from that article without taking credit (shouldn't he have yelled "timbre" first) ? StuRat (talk) 14:26, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

Quia vir reprobus
What does this Papal Bull mean? Thanks. --Omidinist (talk) 11:04, 18 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Assuming you mean the title itself, it is Latin, I think the first part of the text of the document ("Because a wicked man..."). If I'm wrong then I'm sure an editor who speaks better Latin will be along presently to correct me. :-)  If I could just find an actual Latin copy I could check... -- tiny plastic Grey Knight   &#x2296;  11:19, 18 June 2008 (UTC)


 * It means that Michael of Cesena (the wicked man of the title) is declared a heretic. You may remember him as one of the stars of The Name of the Rose. Xn4 11:45, 18 June 2008 (UTC)


 * And Michael was only arguing for the vow of poverty, something the popes of the era were dead-set against, for obvious reasons. Papal Bull, indeed. StuRat (talk) 14:19, 18 June 2008 (UTC)


 * In case anyone was wondering (this is the Language desk after all), a "papal bull" is a particular kind of document issued by the pope. The "bull" derives from bulla (Latin, "amulet"/"bubble"), which was used as a seal and is unrelated to the English word "bull" despite the number of puns on this basis which have come up over the years. :-)  -- tiny plastic Grey Knight   &#x2296;  14:38, 18 June 2008 (UTC)


 * StuRat has once again successfully steered the thread away from the original question. ---Sluzzelin talk  17:27, 18 June 2008 (UTC)


 * The question had already been answered, after all. And, might I add, that neither your response nor this reply are answers to the original question, either. StuRat (talk) 01:05, 19 June 2008 (UTC)


 * I believe Sluzzelin was perpetrating an obscure pun. Algebraist 01:22, 19 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Oh, I should be tossed down into steerage for missing that one. StuRat (talk) 03:15, 19 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Or I, for forgetting the unwritten refdesk rule of wikilinking the pun for obviousness. Anyway, no matter, I got no beef with Stu. ---Sluzzelin talk  05:05, 19 June 2008 (UTC)
 * One for the guidelines, maybe? Algebraist 15:42, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for all comments. --Omidinist (talk) 19:14, 18 June 2008 (UTC)