Tablature

Also 6 tabli-, 6–9 table-, 7–9 tabulature. [app. a. F. tablature (1553 in Hatz.-Darm.), f. L. tabula table; prob. in imitation of It. tavolatura ‘any kind of Prick-song’ (Florio), f. tavolare to board, plank, enclose with boards; also ‘to set in Musike or Prick-song’ (Florio): cf. late and med.L. tabulāre to plank, board over (Quicherat Addenda; also in Du Cange) and the L. derivatives tabulātus boarded, tabulātio boarding, flooring, implying the vb.]

  1.  Mus. An old name for musical notation in general, esp. for systems differing from the ordinary staff notation; spec. a peculiar form of notation used for the lute and other stringed instruments, in which the lines of the stave denoted the several strings, and letters or figures were placed upon them to indicate the points at which they were to be ‘stopped’ with the fingers; also, a similar notation for the flute and other wind instruments, in which the lines denoted the several holes, and dots or dashes were placed upon them to indicate those which were to be stopped. Obs. exc. Hist.

1574.  (title) A briefe and plaine instruction, to set all Musicke of 8 diuers Tunes in Tableture for the Lute.

1587.  Golding, De Mornay, xiv. (1617), 216. The plaine and sweet Harmonie of his [the Lute player’s] Tablature, as they terme it.

1596.  (title) A new Booke of Tabliture … shewing howe to attain the knowledge to guide and dispose thy Hand to play on sundry Instruments…. Whereunto is added, an Introduction to prickesong.

1603.  Holland, Plutarch’s Mor., 1046. The propositions described in the Tablature of musicians, which consisteth of five tetrachords.

1641.  Evelyn, Diary, Aug. One … play’d all sorts of compositions [on a chime of bells] from the tablature before him, as if he had fingered an organ.

1724.  Short Explic. For. Wds. in Mus. Bks., Tabulatura, or Tablature, is the old Way of writing Musick with Letters instead of Notes.

1898.  Stainer & Barrett, Dict. Mus. Terms, 426. Organ Tablature was a system of writing the notes without the stave by means of letters…. Figured bass has also been called Tablature.

  fig.  1649.  Lovelace, Poems (1864), 121. Sound all my thoughts, and see exprest The tablature of my large brest. Ibid. (1656), 247. What means this stately tablature, The ballance of thy streins?

  2.  A tabular formation or structure bearing an inscription or design; a tablet. Obs. or arch.

1606.  Ford, Honour Triumph., iii. (1843), 25. Whose shames, were they enameled in the tableture of their foreheads, it would be a hideous visour.

1641.  Arminian Nunnery, in R. Brunne, Chron. (1725), I. p. cxxxi. On the Chimney-peice … there was a Manuscript Tableture with this Inscription following [etc.].

1785.  Murphy, Braganza, Prol.

1820.  Moir, in Blackw. Mag., VII. 493. Behind the massy tablatures of death. Ibid. (1844), LVI. 586. Ranges of headstones showed, Each on its hoary tablature,… The sculptured leer of that hyena face.

  fig.  1633.  Ford, Love’s Sacr., I. ii. You set before you, in the tablature Of your remembrance, the becoming griefs Of a most loyal lady.

1856.  Dove, Logic Chr. Faith, Introd. 15. The … same method … would obliterate them from the tablature of human knowledge.

  † 3.  A painting; a picture; spec.: see quot. 1711.

1711.  Shaftesb., Charact. (1737), III. 348. In Painting we may give to any particular Work the name of Tablature, when the work is in reality ‘a Single Piece, comprehended in one View,… which constitutes a real Whole.’

1739.  Melmoth, Fitzosb. Lett. (1763), 188. Influenced in his censure or applause of the whole tablature, by the predominancy or deficiency of his favorite beauty.

1762.  Kames, Elem. Crit. (1774), II. xxv. 487. He prefers the Saracen’s head upon a sign-post before the best tablature of Raphael.

1767.  S. Paterson, Another Trav., I. 86. This is the subject of the third tablature.

  b.  collectively. Work consisting or of the nature of paintings or pictures. ? Obs.

1714.  Fr. Bk. of Rates, 44. Images painted on Wood or Linen pay as Tableture per 100 Weight.

1762–9.  Falconer, Shipwr., III. 340. The roof, where storied tablature appear’d.

1819.  Blackw. Mag., V. 219. To dazzle us with the tablature of splendid hues and imposing forms.

  c.  fig. A picture formed by description or in fancy; (pl.) the ‘pictures’ or representations of memory, or the faculty of retaining these.

1779.  Sheridan, Critic, I. ii. Yielding a tablature of benevolence and public spirit.

1779.  Hist. Mod. Europe, II. lxx. 490. The transactions of this turbulent period I propose to comprehend in two extensive tablatures.

1860.  Bacon’s Mor. & Hist. Wks., Wisd. Anc. (Bohn), 254. How beautifully and elegantly the fable has drawn two reigning characters in human life, and given two examples, or tablatures of them, under the persons of Prometheus and Epimetheus.

  4.  Arch. = ENTABLATURE 1. rare.

1869.  A. W. Ward, trans. Curtius’ Hist. Greece, II. II. iv. 84. The columns rise to bear the tabulature of marble.

  † 5.  Anat. The tabulate structure of the skull: cf. TABLE sb. 16. Obs.

1706.  Phillips (ed. Kersey), Tablature.… In Anatomy, it signifies a Division, or parting of the Scull-bones.

1727–41.  Chambers, Cycl., Tablature, in anatomy, a division or parting of the scull into two tables.