Origin
Maxima - Latin cognate of "maximum".
Longa - Latin cognate of "long".
Breve - In medieval notation, the
brevis (ancestor of the modern breve) was one of the shortest
note lengths (hence its name, which is the Latin cognate of "brief"),
and could be either a half or a third as long as the longa. However, in
modern music notation it is the longest note with a distinct symbol.
Semibreve - Semi is Latin
meaning "half". So a semibreve is half the value of a breve.
Minim - The note derives from the
minima, which is Latin for 'least or smallest,' because at one stage it
was the shortest of all note values used.
Crotchet - The word crotchet
comes from
Old
French
crochet,
meaning 'little hook', diminutive of croc, 'hook', because of the
hook used on the note in black notation (see example below). However, because the hook appeared
on the
eighth note (or quaver) in the later white notation, the modern
French term croche refers to an eighth note.
Quaver - The word quaver comes from the now
archaic use of the verb to quaver meaning to sing in trills.
Semiquaver - Semi is Latin meaning
"half". So a semiquaver is half the value of a quaver.
Demisemiquaver - Demi also means
"half" (Latin). A demisemiquaver is half the value of a semiquaver.
Hemidemisemiquaver - Hemi is from
Ancient Greek meaning "half". A hemidemisemiquaver is half the value
of a demisemiquaver.
Example of Black Notation
