Re: Terminology question

[Robert Gaebler]

Jacques Menu <imj-muzhic@bluewin.ch> writes:

 

> Hello folks,

>

> What would be the plural of ‘figured bass’, if that applies, to denote several

> occurrences of the figures in a score, the same way has there can be several

> harmonies? Maybe ‘figured bass figures’?

>

> In the example below, there 5 such occurrences:

>

>

> Thanks for. your help!

 

 

As many others have pointed out, there is no standard term, for what you have in mind, in English.  I think the phrase "bass figure" works, and would be reasonably well understood from context.

 

Nevertheless, ad hoc neologisms abound in English usage, and you would not be out of place introducing your own term. Just try to make it intuitive or recognizable from similar usage.

 

Borrowing from the German, as mentioned by Lukas, let me mention that the word "signature" has fairly common English usage within technology, to refer to a collection of properties or characteristics that identify a particular instance of an object or event. So in a discussion of some specific figured bass examples, you might mention "these five figured bass signatures from measures 10, 12, 14, 22, and 23...". I think most people would figure it out from the context. Maybe it would even catch on and become our English term for an instance of a figured bass symbol.

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Bob Gaebler