[prob. a. F. transposition (c. 1560 in Paré), or ad. med.L. transpositiōn-em (Du Cange), n. of action from L. transpōnĕre (f. TRANS- + pōnĕre to place); but, like other nouns in -position, associated in F. and Eng. with transposer, TRANSPOSE v. etc.] The action of transposing, or condition of being transposed; the result of this.
1. gen. Removal from one position to another; transference.
1538. Elyot, Transcribere, the transposition of a possession from one to an other.
1642. Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., I. vii. 19. Well may masters consider how easie a transposition it had been for God, to have made him to mount into the saddle that holds the stirrop.
1678. Cudworth, Intell. Syst., I. i. § 33. 42. This was the Doctrine of Pythagoras…, that no Real Entity perishes in Corruptions, nor is produced in Generations, but only new Modifications and Transpositions made.
1827. Carlyle, Misc., Germ. Lit. (1857), I. 30. A transposition of the critic into the author’s point of vision.
b. Translation into another language. Obs.
1653. Ld. Vaux, trans. Godeau’s St. Paul, A ij. To publish this elaborate transposition of your Lordships out of French into English.
2. Alteration of order, or interchange of position, esp. of letters in a word, or words in a sentence; metathesis; the result of such action; a word or sentence transposed.
1582. T. Watson, Centurie of Loue, lxxx. By tables of translition to decypher any thing that is written by secret transposition of letters.
1630. J. Taylor (Water P.), Life & Death Virg. Mary, Wks. 22/1. For in an Anagram Iskariott is, By letters transposition, Traitor kis.
1675. Baxter, Cath. Theol., II. I. 248. Beza … thinks that a transposition of two Verses hath darkened these Texts.
1727. H. Herbert, trans. Fleury’s Eccl. Hist., I. 62. There are so many … hyperbatons and transpositions, which render his stile difficult.
1818. Scott, Br. Lamm., xxxiv. The mysterious transposition of the portraits.
1861. Paley, Æschylus (ed. 2), Choeph., 219, note. By the accidental transposition of the verses.
3. Mus. a. Alteration of key; the performance of a piece in a different key from that in which it is written, or the writing of a piece in a different key from the original; also transf. a transposed piece. † b. Inversion of parts in counterpoint (obs.).
1609. Douland, Ornith. Microl., 26. Transposition is the remouing of a Song or a Key from his proper place.
1740. (title) Calliope, or English Harmony: a Collection of … English and Scots Songs,… with the Thorough Bass and Transpositions for the Flute.
1889. F. Taylor, in Grove, Dict. Mus., IV. 161/1. In transposition it often happens that a natural has to be represented by a sharp or flat, and vice versa.
4. Algebra. Transference of a quantity from one side of an equation (or one member of a proportion) to the other.
1664. Power, Exp. Philos., II. 130. Here is now four Proportionals, and by any three given, you may strike out [? = hit upon] the fourth, by Conversion, Transposition, and Division of them.
1674. Jeake, Arith. (1696), 622. In Transposition of the next Equation … the Signs are accordingly changed.
c. 1865. Circ. Sc., I. 456/2. If known and unknown quantities are linked together, separate them by transposition.
5. Anat. Abnormal position of the organs of the body, e.g., the heart being on the right side; heterotaxy.
1857. Dunglison, Med. Lex., Transposition of the Viscera … consists in the viscera being found out of the situations they ordinarily occupy.
1904. Brit. Med. Jrnl., 17 Dec., 1643. Heterotaxy, or transposition, the teratogenesis of which is still obscure.
Hence Transpositional a. (rare–1), of, pertaining to, or involving transposition.
a. 1800. S. Pegge, Anecd. Eng. Lang. (1814), 77. The most striking … error in pronunciation among the Londoners … lies in the transpositional use of the letters W and V.… Thus they always say Weal, instead of veal … Vicked, for wicked.
