leitmotiv

See also: Leitmotiv

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

leitmotiv (plural leitmotivs or leitmotive)

1. Alternative form of leitmotif.
   • 1925, Cyril Winn, “The Music”, in The Master-Singers of Wagner (The Musical Pilgrim), London: Oxford University Press, Humphrey Milford, →OCLC, page 10:

     In the domain of purely instrumental music, to which leitmotive are perfectly adapted in the realization of ‘programme music’, the earliest examples are to be found in the Symphonie Fantastique of Berlioz, where what he terms idée fixe is used in the manner of a ‘leitmotiv’.

   • 1985, Christopher Shorley, “Theory, practice and beyond”, in Queneau’s Fiction: An Introductory Study, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, chapter 2 (Form), pages 66–67:

     A further application of the rhymes and repetitions is to be seen in Queneau’s use of leitmotive, whereby his texts are pervaded by objects which, again, serve to indicate the deliberate organisation underlying the surface of the narrative.

   • 1989, Iain MacRobert, “The New Black-led Churches in Britain”, in Paul Badham, editor, Religion, State, and Society in Modern Britain (Texts and Studies in Religion; 43), Lewiston, N.Y.; […]: Edwin Mellen Press, →ISBN, pages 126–127:

     While Pentecostalism differs both in doctrine and pneumatology from the Afro-Christian sects, its indigenisation in Jamaica has meant that the leitmotive of black folk belief reinvigorated the movement, which had been largely "de-Africanised" by white Pentecostals, and thus restored many of the perceptions and themes which had been present at the birth of the Pentecostalism in Los Angeles.

Translations

leitmotif — see also leitmotif

• Polish: leitmotiv (pl) m
• Spanish: leitmotiv (es) m, leit motiv m

French

Etymology

Borrowed from German Leitmotiv.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɛt.mɔ.tiv/
• IPA^(key): /lɛt.mɔ.tif/
• IPA^(key): /lɛjt.mɔ.tiv/
• IPA^(key): /lɛjt.mɔ.tif/
• IPA^(key): /lajt.mɔ.tiv/
• IPA^(key): /lajt.mɔ.tif/

Noun

leitmotiv m (plural leitmotive or leitmotivs)

1. leitmotif

Further reading

• “leitmotiv”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from German Leitmotiv.

Noun

leitmotiv m (invariable)

1. leitmotif (musical or otherwise)

Polish

Alternative forms

• lejtmotyw

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from German Leitmotiv.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlajt.mɔ.tif/

• Audio 1:

  (file)

• Audio 2:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ajtmɔtif
• Syllabification: leit‧mo‧tiv

Noun

leitmotiv m inan

1. (music) leitmotif (melodic theme associated with a particular character, place, thing, or idea in an opera)

   Hypernym: motyw

2. (figuratively, literary) leitmotif (recurring theme)

   Synonym: motyw przewodni

   Hypernym: temat

Declension

Declension of leitmotiv

	singular	plural
nominative	leitmotiv	leitmotivy
genitive	leitmotivu	leitmotivów
dative	leitmotivowi	leitmotivom
accusative	leitmotiv	leitmotivy
instrumental	leitmotivem	leitmotivami
locative	leitmotivie	leitmotivach
vocative	leitmotivie	leitmotivy

Further reading

• “leitmotiv”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[1] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “leitmotiv”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[2] (in Polish)
• leitmotiv in PWN's encyclopedia

Portuguese

Noun

leitmotiv m (plural leitmotive or leitmotivs)

1. (music) leitmotif (a recurring melodic theme in an opera)
2. (by extension) leitmotif (recurring theme)

Further reading

• “leitmotiv”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Romanian

Noun

leitmotiv n (plural leitmotivuri)

1. obsolete form of laitmotiv

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	leitmotiv	leitmotivul	leitmotivuri	leitmotivurile
genitive-dative	leitmotiv	leitmotivului	leitmotivuri	leitmotivurilor
vocative	leitmotivule		leitmotivurilor

References

• leitmotiv in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN

Spanish

Alternative forms

• leitmotif, leit motiv

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from German Leitmotiv.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /laidmoˈtif/ [lai̯ð̞.moˈt̪if], [lajt.moˈt̪iv]
• IPA^(key): /leidmoˈtif/ [lei̯ð̞.moˈt̪if], [lejt.moˈt̪iv]
• Rhymes: -if
• Syllabification: leit‧mo‧tiv

Noun

leitmotiv m (plural leitmotivs or leitmotiv or leitmotive)

1. (music) leitmotif (a recurring melodic theme in an opera)
2. (by extension) leitmotif (recurring theme)

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.