positura

English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin positūra, feminine noun formed from positūrus (“about to place”). Doublet of posture.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pɒzɪˈtjʊəɹə/, /pɒzɪˈtʃʊəɹə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /pɑzəˈtʊəɹə/

Noun

positura (plural positurae)

1. A stroke added to a medieval punctus; a punctuation mark created by addition of such a stroke.
   • 1993, Malcolm Beckwith Parkes, Pause and Effect‎^[1], Plates and Commentaries, page 197:

     The positurae mark those pauses in the text which require the celebrant to inflect the recitation tone […]

   • 2011 July 22, Tadao Kudouchi, edited by Akio Oizumi and Jacek Fisiak, English Historical Linguistics and Philology in Japan‎^[2], De Gruyter, →ISBN, page 172:

     The positurae thus indicated not only the "appropriate melodic formula", but also a pause and therefore a rhythmical and syntactic break which it is the primary function of punctuation to mark.

   • 2015, Benjamin Pohl, Dudo of Saint-Quentin's Historia Normannorum: Tradition, Innovation and Memory‎^[3], York Medieval Press, →ISBN, Introduction, page 19:

     After all, it was the revision of the Cistercian liturgy that helped facilitate the widespread use of positurae, particularly the punctus flexus and punctus elevatus.

Catalan

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin positūra. Doublet of postura.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [pu.ziˈtu.ɾə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [po.ziˈtu.ɾə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [po.ziˈtu.ɾa]

Noun

positura f (plural positures)

1. posture, position, pose

Related terms

• posar
• posició

Further reading

• “positura” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Latin

Participle

positūra

1. inflection of positūrus:
   1. nominative/vocative feminine singular
   2. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter plural

Participle

positūrā

1. ablative feminine singular of positūrus

References

• “positura”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• positura in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.