Mus. Also 6 soule, 7 soll. [The first syllable of L. solve: see GAMUT.] The fifth note of Guido’s hexachords, and of the octave in modern solmization; the note G in the natural scale of C major.
c. 1325. in Rel. Ant., I. 292. Sol and ut and la, And that froward file that men clepis fa.
a. 1529. Skelton, Bouge of Court, 258. Wolde to God, it wolde please you some daye … to … lerne me to synge, Re, my, fa, sol!
1565. Kyng Daryus, 739 (Brandl). La, soule, soule, fa, my.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., III. i. 77. D sol re, one Cliffe, two notes haue I.
1626. Middleton, Any Thing for Quiet Life, V. ii. You shall never talk your voice above the key sol, sol, sol.
1662. Playford, Skill Music (1674), 1. Ut and Re are now changed into Sol and La.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Sol-fa-ing, From fa to sol is a Tone; also from sol to la.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XII. 547/2. From the adjuncts of the mode, that is to say, the modes of its two fifths, which for ut are fa and sol, and re and mi for la.
1842. Penny Cycl., XXII. 194/1.
1873. H. C. Banister, Music (1877), 32. The lowest note, Sol, or G.
Hence Sol v. (in nonce-use).
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., IV. v. 121 (Q.1). Ile re you, Ile fa you, Ile sol you.
