a. (sb.) [ad. Gr. θεματικ-ός, f. θέμα THEME: see -IC.] Of or pertaining to a theme or themes.
1. Of or pertaining to a subject or topic of discourse or writing. rare.
1871. trans. Lange’s Comm. Jer., 104. These introductory verses thus acquire a thematic character.
† b. Logic. Relating to or connected with the matter or subject of thought. Obs.
1697. trans. Burgersdicius his Logic, I. i. 2. A System of Logical Precepts consists of two Parts, Thematick and Organic…. The first is that which is imploy’d about Theams, and their various Affections, and second Notions, as about the Matter of the Instruments of Logick.
2. Mus. Of, pertaining to, or constituting themes or subjects (see THEME 4); relating to themes and their contrapuntal development. In thematic catalogue, index, summary, = containing the opening themes or passages of musical pieces.
1864. Reader, 21 May, 660. A handy thematic summary of the work is given in the ‘Orchestra’ for last week.
1878. C. F. Pohl, in Grove, Dict. Mus., I. 66/2. The thematic catalogue which Mozart himself had kept of his works.
1906. Athenæum, 1 Sept., 250/2. The thematic material has been carefully chosen, and its treatment shows thought and skill.
3. Gram. Of or pertaining to the theme or stem-form of a word: see THEME 5.
Thematic vowel, a vowel which comes between the root and the inflexions in a verb or sb., as the ε and ο in φέρ-ο-μεν, φέρ-ε-τε, the i, e, and a in OE. ber-i-þ, ber-e-þ, luf-a-ð.
1861. Goldstücker, Pánini, 257 There must be reasons for this variety of thematic forms which constitute the declension of the same base.
1877. Papillon, Man. Comp. Philol., viii. (ed. 2), 167. Curtius … explains the vowel in question as a ‘thematic vowel,’ i.e. a sufix to or increase of the stem or ‘theme’ previous to the reception of the inflections.
1887. Cook, Sievers’ O. E. Gram., 143. The thematic w being sometimes retained and sometimes lost.
1888. Kennedy, Revised Lat. Primer, § 148 (1900), 94. Verbs…. In which the Verb-Stem was formed by a so-called Thematic vowel added to the root.
B. as sb. That part of logic which deals with themes or subjects of thought.
1891. in Cent. Dict.
So Thematical a. = thematic; Thematically adv., in a thematic manner; with respect to a theme or themes; † Thematism Obs. nonce-wd. [ad. Gr. θεματισμός a laying down], a placing, arrangement; Thematist, one who composes or writes themes (Ogilvie, 1882).
1890. Athenæum, 3 May, 579/1. The *thematical material in the four movements of the work is … interesting, and … the music is pleasantly unconventional. Ibid., 25 Jan., 125/2. Structurally as well as *thematically we note a welcome advance towards clearness.
1729. Shelvocke, Artillery, V. 334. The first then shall be the *Thematism (from the Greek Word θεματισμός) which signifies the Decorum and Gracefulness of any Pile.
