Mus. [Orig. the first syllable of L. labii: see GAMUT.] The name given by Guido d’Arezzo to the sixth note in his hexachords, and since retained in solmization as the sixth note of the octave; also (now rarely) used as in Fr. and It. as a name of the note A, the sixth note of the ‘natural’ scale of C major.
c. 1325. in Rel. Ant., I. 292. Sol and ut and la.
1597. Morley, Introd. Mus. (1771), 4. There be in Musicke but vi. Notes, which are called vt, re, mi, fa, sol, la.
1605. Shaks., Lear, I. ii. 149. O these Eclipses do portend these divisions. Fa, Sol, La, Me.
c. 1645. Howell, Lett. (1650), II. lv. 77. The other … will drink often musically a health to every one of these 6 notes, Ut, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La; which, with his reason, are all comprehended in this exameter, Ut Relevet Miserum Fatum Solitosque Labores.
1811. Busby, Dict. Mus. (ed. 3), s.v. Solmization, Of the seven notes in the French scale, only four were for a while used by us, as mi, fa, sol, la.
