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Kýrie is from the Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 word ????e (kyrie), the vocative case
Vocative case

The vocative case is the declension used for a noun identifying the person being addressed and/or occasionally the determiners of that noun. A vocative expression is an expression of direct address, wherein the identity of the party being spoken to is set forth expressly within a sentence....
 of ?????? (kyrios), meaning O Lord. It is the common name of an important prayer
Prayer

Prayer is the act of communicating with a deity or spirit in worship. Specific forms of this may include praise, requesting divine providence, confessing sins, as an act of reparation or an expression of one's emotional expression....
 of Christian liturgy
Liturgy

A liturgy is the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to their particular traditions. The word may refer to an elaborate formal ritual such as the Eastern Orthodox Divine Liturgy and Mass , or a daily activity such as the Muslim salat and Jewish Jewish services....
, also called Kýrie, eléison which is Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 for Lord, have mercy.

In Eastern Christianity
Anyone attending a church service in the Eastern churches (whether they be Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox or Eastern Catholic), will find the phrase Kýrie, eléison (Greek: ) or its equivalents in other languages to be the most oft-repeated phrase.

The various litanies
Ektenia

Ektenia , often called simply Litany, is a prayerful petition in the Eastern Orthodox/Eastern Catholic liturgy. The prevalent ecclesiastical word for this kind of litany in Greek is S??apt? Synapt?, Ektenia being the Greek word preferred in Church Slavonic language ....
, popular in Orthodox Christianity, generally have Lord, have mercy as their response, either singly or triply.






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Encyclopedia


Kýrie is from the Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 word ????e (kyrie), the vocative case
Vocative case

The vocative case is the declension used for a noun identifying the person being addressed and/or occasionally the determiners of that noun. A vocative expression is an expression of direct address, wherein the identity of the party being spoken to is set forth expressly within a sentence....
 of ?????? (kyrios), meaning O Lord. It is the common name of an important prayer
Prayer

Prayer is the act of communicating with a deity or spirit in worship. Specific forms of this may include praise, requesting divine providence, confessing sins, as an act of reparation or an expression of one's emotional expression....
 of Christian liturgy
Liturgy

A liturgy is the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to their particular traditions. The word may refer to an elaborate formal ritual such as the Eastern Orthodox Divine Liturgy and Mass , or a daily activity such as the Muslim salat and Jewish Jewish services....
, also called Kýrie, eléison which is Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 for Lord, have mercy.

In Eastern Christianity


Anyone attending a church service in the Eastern churches (whether they be Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox or Eastern Catholic), will find the phrase Kýrie, eléison (Greek: ) or its equivalents in other languages to be the most oft-repeated phrase.

The various litanies
Ektenia

Ektenia , often called simply Litany, is a prayerful petition in the Eastern Orthodox/Eastern Catholic liturgy. The prevalent ecclesiastical word for this kind of litany in Greek is S??apt? Synapt?, Ektenia being the Greek word preferred in Church Slavonic language ....
, popular in Orthodox Christianity, generally have Lord, have mercy as their response, either singly or triply. Some petitions in these litanies will have twelve or even forty repetitions of the phrase as a response.

The phrase is the origin of the Jesus Prayer
Jesus Prayer

The Jesus Prayer or "The Prayer" , also called the Prayer of the Heart and "Prayer of the Mind " , is a short, formulaic prayer often uttered repeatedly....
, beloved of Eastern Christians belonging to the Byzantine rite
Byzantine Rite

The Byzantine Rite, sometimes called the Rite of Constantinople or Constantinopolitan Rite, is the liturgy used currently by all the Eastern Orthodox Churches and by the Greek-Catholic Churches ....
, and increasingly popular amongst Western Christians today.

The biblical roots of this prayer first appear in
...give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever...
This is a key to fully understanding the Greek Kýrie, eléison, for while Latin is mostly a static language (Lord HAVE mercy!) Greek (in this case particularly) is an active language. Thus, "Lord Have Mercy", the static plea, is more properly translated "The Lord is BEING merciful" in the active Greek. In this respect, the prayer is simultaneously a petition and a prayer of thanksgiving; an acknowledgment of what God has done, what God is doing, and what God will continue to do. This prayer is refined by Christ Himself in , where we see more clearly the connection to the Jesus Prayer
Jesus Prayer

The Jesus Prayer or "The Prayer" , also called the Prayer of the Heart and "Prayer of the Mind " , is a short, formulaic prayer often uttered repeatedly....
: "God, have mercy on me, a sinner!" (KJV)

The Mass/Divine Liturgy was first celebrated in Greek at Rome during the first two centuries of The Church. As Latin became the predominant language of Rome, The Mass was translated into Latin. However, the familiar and venerated prayer Kýrie, eléison was later inserted back into The Mass, replacing the latin "Domine, Miserere!"

The Greek phrase Kýrie, eléison has also been regularly and extensively used in Coptic (Egyptian) Christian churches since the early centuries of Christianity, where in liturgy both Coptic and Greek languages are used. The Coptic and Greek languages share many letters, words, and phrases, particularly in ecclesiastical contexts.

In Western Christianity


The Kýrie prayer, offered during the Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church, officially known as the Catholic Church is the world's largest Christianity Ecclesia , representing over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world population....
 Mass
Mass (liturgy)

The Mass is the Eucharistic celebration in the Latin liturgical rites of the Roman Catholic Church. The term is used also of similar celebrations in Old Catholic Churches, in the Anglo-Catholic tradition of Anglicanism, and in some largely High Church Lutheranism Lutheranism regions, including the Scandinavian and Baltic states countries....
 and in some other denominations (such as Lutheran and many in the Anglican Communion
Anglican Communion

The Anglican Communion is an international association of national Anglican churches. There is no single "Anglican Church" with universal juridical authority as each national or regional church has full autonomy....
), led by the priest
Priest

A priest or priestess is a person having the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities....
 or celebrant, and repeated by the congregation. It is conjectured by scholars, including Jungmann, that the Kýrie in the Roman Mass is a vestigial remnant of a litany
Ektenia

Ektenia , often called simply Litany, is a prayerful petition in the Eastern Orthodox/Eastern Catholic liturgy. The prevalent ecclesiastical word for this kind of litany in Greek is S??apt? Synapt?, Ektenia being the Greek word preferred in Church Slavonic language ....
 at the beginning of the mass, much like that of the Eastern Churches. Though today usually recited in the vernacular
Vernacular

Vernacular refers to the native language of a country or a locality. In general linguistics, it is used to describe local languages as opposed to Lingua franca, official standards or global languages....
, the traditional form of the Kýrie in Western Christianity
Western Christianity

Western Christianity is a term used to include the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church, the Churches of the Anglican Communion and Protestantism, which share common attributes that can be traced back to their medieval heritage....
 is a transliteration
Transliteration

Transliteration is the practice of transcribing a word or text written in one writing system into another writing system or system of rules for such practice....
 of the Greek prayer into Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
, and is used in this form in Latin-language Masses.

.
Kýrie, eléison; Christé, eléison; Kýrie, eléison.
"Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy; Lord, have mercy."


Traditionally, each line was sung three times. The three lines being sung thrice is an allusion to the Trinity
Trinity

In Christianity doctrine, the Trinity is the unity of God the Father, God the Son, and Holy Spirit as three persons in monotheism. The doctrine states that God is the Triune God, existing as three persons, or in the Greek hypostasis , but one being....
.

This prayer occurs early in the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Mass
Mass (liturgy)

The Mass is the Eucharistic celebration in the Latin liturgical rites of the Roman Catholic Church. The term is used also of similar celebrations in Old Catholic Churches, in the Anglo-Catholic tradition of Anglicanism, and in some largely High Church Lutheranism Lutheranism regions, including the Scandinavian and Baltic states countries....
, directly following the Penitential Rite
Penitential Rite

In the [], the Penitential Rite is a part of the Introductory Rites of the Mass . The Penitential Rite is a time of reflection on one's sins and a prayer for God's mercy....
. However, since an alternate form C of the Penitential Rite of the Mass of Paul VI
Mass of Paul VI

The Mass of Pope Paul VI is the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church Mass of the Roman Rite Promulgation by Paul VI in 1969, after the Second Vatican Council ....
 incorporates the Kýrie text, no additional Kýrie is recited when this form is used. The Penitential Rite and Kýrie are omitted when the Rite of Sprinkling
Aspersion

Aspersion , in a religious context, is the act of sprinkling with water, especially holy water. Aspersion is a method used in baptism as an alternative to immersion or affusion....
 is celebrated, according to this modern use.

Although rare, the 2002 Missale Romanum also calls for "Kyrie Eleison" to be a response of the people to the Prayer of the Faithful during Advent.

The Kýrie is the first sung prayer in the Ordinary
Ordinary of the Mass

The Ordinary of the Mass is the set of texts of the Roman Rite Mass that are generally invariable. This contrasts with the proper , which are items of the Mass that change with the feast or following the Liturgical Year....
 of the pre–1969 Tridentine Mass
Tridentine Mass

The Tridentine Mass is a common name for the form of the Roman Rite Mass contained in the typical editions of the Roman Missal that were published from 1570 to 1962....
, and is usually (but not always) a part of any musical setting of the Mass
Mass (music)

The Mass, a Musical form of sacred music, is a choir composition that sets the fixed portions of the Eucharistic liturgy to music. Most Masses are settings of Mass in Latin, the traditional language of the Roman Catholic Church, but there are a significant number written in the languages of non-Catholic countries where vernacular worship h...
. Kýrie movements often have an ternary
Ternary form

Ternary form is a structuring mechanism of a piece of music. Along with several other musical forms, ternary form can also be applied to dance choreography....
 (ABA) musical structure that reflects the symmetrical structure of the text. Even today the Kýrie is traditionally sung by the cantor
Cantor (church)

A cantor or chanter is the chief singer employed in a church with responsibilities for the ecclesiastical choir; also called the precentor....
, choir, and congregation when it occurs; musical settings of the prayer in styles ranging from Gregorian chant
Gregorian chant

Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainsong, a form of monophony liturgy chant in Western Christianity that accompanied the celebration of Mass and other ritual services....
 to Folk
Folk music

Folk music can have a number of different meanings, including:* Traditional music: The original meaning of the term "folk music" was synonymous with the term "Traditional music", also often including World Music and Roots music; the term "Traditional music" was given its more specific meaning to distinguish it from the other definition...
 are popular.

Since 1549 Anglicans have normally sung or said the Kýrie in English. In the 1552 Book of Common Prayer
Book of Common Prayer

The Book of Common Prayer is the common title of a number of prayer books of the Church of England and used throughout the Anglican Communion. The first book, published in 1549 , in the reign of Edward VI of England, was a product of the English Reformation following the break with Roman Catholic Church....
 the Kýrie was inserted into a recitation of the Ten Commandments
Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments, or Decalogue, are a list of religious and moral imperatives that, according to Judeo-Christian tradition, were authored by God and given to Moses on the mountain referred to as "Biblical Mount Sinai" or "Mount Horeb" in the form of two stone tablets....
. Modern revisions of the Prayer Book have restored the option of using the Kýrie without the Commandments.

Musical settings


The Kýrie was a very popular text for which to compose chants. Of 226 catalogued Gregorian chant
Gregorian chant

Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainsong, a form of monophony liturgy chant in Western Christianity that accompanied the celebration of Mass and other ritual services....
 melodies, 30 appear in the Liber Usualis
Liber Usualis

The Liber Usualis is a book of commonly-used Gregorian chants compiled by the monks of the St. Peter's Abbey, Solesmes in France.This 1,900-page book contains most versions of the ordinary chants for the Mass , as well as the common chants for the Liturgy of the Hours and for every commonly celebrated feast of the Church Year ....
. In what are presumed to be the oldest versions, the same melody is repeated for the first eight iterations, and a variation used on the final line (that is, formally, aaa aaa aaa'). These repeat
Repeat

In music, a repeat sign is the Musical notation which indicates a musical form should be repetition . If the piece has one repeat sign alone, then that means to repeat from the beginning, and then continue on ....
s are notated by the Roman numerals "iij" (for three times) or "ij" (for twice). The Kýrie for the Requiem
Requiem

The Requiem or Requiem Mass , also known formally in Latin as the Missa pro defunctis or Missa defunctorum , is a liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church, Anglo-Catholic Anglicans, and certain Lutheran Church Churches in the United States....
 Mass in the Liber Usualis has this form. Later Kýries have more elaborate patterns, such as aaa bbb aaa', aaa bbb ccc', or aba cdc efe'. Note that the final line is nearly always modified somewhat; in some cases this may be because it leads into the Gloria
Gloria in Excelsis Deo

"Gloria in excelsis Deo" is the title and beginning of a hymn known also as the Greater Doxology and the Angelic Hymn.The name is often abbreviated to Gloria in Excelsis or simply Gloria....
 better. In forms both with and without literal repeats, most Kýries in the Liber Usualis have a closing phrase used in nearly all of the lines of the text. This in fact parallels the text, as each line ends with the same word "eléison".

Because of the brevity of the text, Kýries were often very melisma
Melisma

Melisma, in music, is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. Music sung in this style is referred to as melismatic, as opposed to syllabic, where each syllable of text is matched to a single note....
tic. This encouraged later composers to make tropes
Trope (music)

The term trope derives from Greek language "turn, turning", from - tropos "turn, direction, way" related to the root of - trepo, "to turn, to direct, to alter, to change"....
 out of them, either by adding words to the melisma (as how a sequence
Sequence (poetry)

A sequence is a Gregorian chant sung or recited during the Mass , before the proclamation of the Gospel. By the time of the Council of Trent there were sequences for many feasts in the Church's year....
 is often considered), or extending the melisma. In fact, because of the late date of most Kýries, it is not always clear whether a particular Kýrie melody or the apparently troped text came first; it could just as easily be the case that a syllabic
Melisma

Melisma, in music, is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. Music sung in this style is referred to as melismatic, as opposed to syllabic, where each syllable of text is matched to a single note....
 song was converted into a melisma for a Kýrie verse. In some cases, verses interpolate Latin text between each "Kýrie" (or "Christé") and "eléison".

As the first item in settings of the mass ordinary and the second in the requiem mass (the only mass proper set regularly over the centuries), numerous composers have included Kýries in their masses, including Guillaume de Machaut
Guillaume de Machaut

Guillaume de Machaut, sometimes spelled Machault, , was an important Middle Ages France poet and composer. He is one of the earliest composers for whom significant biographical information is available....
, Guillaume Dufay
Guillaume Dufay

Guillaume Dufay was a Franco-Flemish school composer of the early Renaissance music. As the central figure in the Burgundian School, he was the most famous and influential composer in Europe in the mid-15th century....
, Johannes Ockeghem
Johannes Ockeghem

Johannes Ockeghem was the most famous composer of the Franco-Flemish School in the last half of the 15th century, and is often considered the most influential composer between Guillaume Dufay and Josquin des Prez....
, Josquin des Pres, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was an Italy composer of the Renaissance music. He was the most famous sixteenth-century representative of the Roman School of musical composition....
, Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and organ whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque music period and brought it to its ultimate maturity....
, Joseph Haydn
Joseph Haydn

Joseph Haydn was an Austrians composer. He was one of the most prominent composers of the classical music era, and is called by some the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet"....
, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood in Salzburg. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty; at seventeen he was engaged as a court musician in Salzburg, but grew restless and traveled in search of a better position, always...
, Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. He was a crucial figure in the transitional period between the Classical music era and Romantic music eras in classical music, and remains one of the most acclaimed and influential composers of all time....
, Gabriel Fauré
Gabriel Fauré

Gabriel Urbain Faur? was a French composer, organist, pianist, and teacher. He was the foremost French composer of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th century composers....
, Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz

Louis Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic music composer and guitarist, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Requiem . Berlioz made great contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation and by utilizing huge orchestral forces for his works; as a conductor, he performed several c...
, Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi

Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic music composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers in the 19th century....
, Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams

Ralph Vaughan Williams Order of Merit was an England composer of symphony, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film Film score. He was also a collector of England folk music and folk song; this also influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, which began in 1904, many folk song arrangements being set as hymn tunes,...
, Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian-born composer, considered by many to be the most influential composer of 20th century music. He was a quintessentially Cosmopolitanism Russian who was named by Time as one of the 100 most influential people of the century....
, Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein

Leonard Bernstein was a multi-Emmy-winning and Academy Award for Original Music Score nominated American Conductor , composer, author, music lecturer and Piano....
, Benjamin Britten
Benjamin Britten

Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, Order of Merit Order of the Companions of Honour was an England composer, conducting, viola and pianist....
, Mark Alburger, Erling Wold
Erling Wold

Erling Wold is a San Francisco based composer of opera and contemporary classical music. He is best known for his later chamber operas, especially A Little Girl Dreams of Taking the Veil and his early experiments as a Microtonal music....
, and Lisa Scola Prosek. In original settings, Michael Nyman
Michael Nyman

Michael Laurence Nyman, Order of the British Empire is an England composer of minimalist music, pianist, libretto and musicologist, perhaps best known for the many movie soundtrack he wrote during his lengthy collaboration with the film director Peter Greenaway, and his multi-platinum The Piano to Jane Campion's The Piano....
 included it in his score for The Libertine
The Libertine (2005 film)

The Libertine is a 2004 in film Film that was widely released in the United Kingdom on 25 November 2005, and on 10 March 2006 in the United States....
 and Trevor Jones
Trevor Jones (composer)

Trevor Alfred Charles Jones is a South African orchestral film score composer. Although not especially well known outside the film world, he has composed for numerous films and his music has been critically acclaimed for both its depth and emotion....
 used it in his score for Hideaway
Hideaway (film)

Hideaway is a 1995 in film horror film directed by Brett Leonard and based on the Hideaway by Dean Koontz. It stars Jeff Goldblum, Alicia Silverstone, Christine Lahti and Jeremy Sisto....
.

The prayer is also referenced in Tom Lehrer
Tom Lehrer

Thomas Andrew "Tom" Lehrer is an United States singer-songwriter, satire, pianist, and mathematics. He has lectured on mathematics and musical theater....
's song, "The Vatican Rag" and throughout Virgin Black
Virgin Black

Virgin Black is an Australian band that combines Gothic metal#Gothic doom and symphonic metal influences. Signed to The End Records and Massacre Records , the band has released 4 albums and 1 EP....
's Requiem trilogy.

The vocal group The Association
The Association

The Association is a pop music band from California in the sunshine pop genre. They are best known for their popularity in the 1960s, when they had numerous hits at or near the top of the Billboard charts....
 produced a stirring protest song in 1967 to the war in Vietnam, "Requiem For The Masses", that includes a full-harmony bridge "Kýrie, eléison". Their inspiration is possibly from Mozart's Requiem as their song includes other phrases from Amadeus' masterpiece: Rex tremendae majestatis (King of tremendous majesty), and Requiem aeternam (Eternal Rest Grant unto Them).

The psychedelic rock band The Electric Prunes
The Electric Prunes

The Electric Prunes are a rock band who first achieved international attention as an experimental psychedelic group in the late 1960s, and contributed two tracks to the soundtrack of Easy Rider....
 recorded a version of "Kyrie Eleison" included on the album and soundtrack of the movie Easy Rider
Easy Rider

Easy Rider, a Cinema of the United States road movie written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Terry Southern and directed by Hopper, about two bikers who travel through the Southwest United States and U.S....
 in 1969.

The band Mr. Mister
Mr. Mister

'Mr. Mister' was an United States pop rock musical ensemble of the 1980s. The band's name came from an inside joke about a Weather Report record called Mr....
 came up with the single "Kyrie
Kyrie (song)

"Kyrie" was a #1 hit song by the 1980s pop/rock band Mr. Mister, from their 1985 album Welcome to the Real World . Released in late 1985, it hit the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in March of 1986, where it was #1 for two weeks....
" in late 1985 invoking Kýrie, eléison. It was covered by Christian group AVB
AVB

AVB , was a spin-off group formed from the former backup singers of the Contemporary Christian Music act Acappella . While Acappella maintained a more traditional adult-oriented vocal style, AVB's music was aimed at a younger audience....
 in 1994 and became a hit on the CCM chart. Christian singer/songwriter, Mark Schultz, remixed this single in his 2002 album Song Cinema.

In the 1996 album, Christmas Eve and Other Stories
Christmas Eve and Other Stories

Christmas Eve and Other Stories is a CD of Christmas carols by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. This CD takes familiar carols and adds to them the Rock and Roll touch that the Trans-Siberian Orchestra is known for....
, the song "An Angel Returned" by Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Trans-Siberian Orchestra is a Rock music orchestra founded by Paul O'Neill , Robert Kinkel, and Jon Oliva in 1996. The band's musical style incorporates progressive rock, symphonic metal, and heavy metal music, with influences from classical music....
 repeats the lyric "Kyrie among nations" throughout the song.

In the wildly successful musical Notre Dame de Paris
Notre Dame de Paris

Notre Dame de Paris is a Gothic architecture cathedral on the eastern half of the ?le de la Cit? in the 4th arrondissement of Paris of Paris, France, with its main entrance to the west....
, the line "Kýrie, eléison" is sung by Quasimodo, played by Garou
Garou

Garou may refer to:* A word from the French "loup-garou", meaning "werewolf".** Additionally a Japanese language word, . Despite the coincidental spelling, it has no etymological ties to the French word....
.

Variants


Historically, there have been various variant forms and pronunciations of the phrase Kýrie, eléison in use. While the proper Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 pronunciation has 'Ký-ri-e, e-lé-i-son', with seven syllables, it is common to hear 'Ký-ri-e, e-léi-son' with six syllables, as well as 'Ký-rie, e-léi-son' with five, when the phrase is sung in churches that do not normally use Greek. Text underlay in Mediaeval
Medieval music

The term medieval music encompasses European music written during the Middle Ages. This era begins with the fall of the Roman Empire and ends in approximately the middle of the fifteenth century....
 and Renaissance music
Renaissance music

Renaissance music is European music written during the Renaissance, approximately 1400 - 1600. Dates of classical music eras, given the lack of abrupt shifts in musical thinking during the 15th century....
 attests that the existence of 'Ký-ri-e-léi-son' with five syllables was the most common pronunciation up till perhaps the mid 1500s. William Byrd
William Byrd

William Byrd was an English composer of the Renaissance music. He cultivated many of the forms current in England at the time, including various types of sacred and secular polyphony, Keyboard instrument and consort music...
's mass for 4 voices is a notable example of a musical setting originally written with five syllables in mind, later altered for six syllables.

Mediaeval poetry
Medieval poetry

Because most of what we have was written down by clerics, much of extant medieval poetry is Religion. The chief exception is the work of the troubadours and the minnes?nger, whose primary innovation was the ideal of courtly love....
 sometimes has 'Kýrieléis
Kyrielle

The kyrielle is a poetry form that originated in troubadour poetry....
', an even more drastic four syllable form, used as a convenient rhyme
Rhyme

A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds in two or more different words and is most often used in poetry and songs. The word "rhyme" may also refer to a short poem, such as a rhyming couplet or other brief rhyming poem such as nursery rhymes....
 with various words in macaronic poems and songs.

In various languages

  • Afrikaans: Here, begenadig U
  • Albanian
    Albanian language

    Albanian is an Indo-European languages spoken by nearly 6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including the west of the Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, and southern Serbia....
    : Meshiro, o Zot
  • Arabic
    Arabic language

    Arabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages languages such as Hebrew language and Aramaic language....
    : ?? ??? ???? (Ya Rabb, Irrham)
  • Armenian
    Armenian language

    The 'Armenian language' is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenians. It is the official language of the Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh....
    : ???, ??????? (Ter Voghormya)
  • Basque
    Basque language

    Basque is the language spoken by the Basque people who inhabit the Pyrenees in North-Central Spain and the adjoining region of South-Western France....
    : Erruki zakizkigu, Jauna
  • Belarusian
    Belarusian language

    The Belarusian language, or Belorussian is the language of the Belarusians and is spoken in Belarus and abroad, chiefly in Russia, Ukraine, and Poland....
    : ???????, ??????? (Z'milui Gospadu)
  • Bulgarian
    Bulgarian language

    Bulgarian is an Indo-European languages, a member of the Slavic languages linguistic group.Bulgarian demonstrates several linguistic innovations that set it apart from all other Slavic languages except Macedonian language, such as the elimination of grammatical case, the development of a suffixed definite article , the lack of a verb infin...
    : ???????, ??????? (Gospodi, pomiluj)
  • Catalan
    Catalan language

    Catalan is a Romance languages, the national language and official language of Andorra, and a official language in the Autonomous Communities of Spain of the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencian Community and in the city of Alghero in the Italy List of islands in the Mediterranean of Sardinia....
    : Senyor, tingueu pietat
  • Cebuano
    Cebuano language

    Cebuano is an Austronesian language language spoken in the Philippines by about 20 million people. It is the largest member of the Visayan languages, and is also referred to as "Visayan"....
    : Ginoo, kaluy-i kami
  • Chinese
    Chinese language

    Chinese or the Sinitic language is a language family consisting of language mutually unintelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the two branches of Sino-Tibetan languages of languages....
    : traditional ???? ; simplified ???? (qiu zhu chui lian)
  • Church Slavonic: ??????? ??????? (Gospodi pomilui)
  • Croatian
    Croatian language

    Croatian language is a South Slavic languages which is used primarily in Croatia, by Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in neighbouring countries where Croats are Indigenous peoples, in Italian region of Molise, and parts of the Croats diaspora....
    : Gospodine, smiluj se
  • Czech
    Czech language

    Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czech people worldwide....
    : Pane, smiluj se
  • Danish
    Danish language

    Danish is one of the North Germanic languages , a sub-group of the Germanic languages branch of the Indo-European languages. It is spoken by around 6 million people, mainly in Denmark; the language is also used by the 50,000 Danes in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany where it holds the status of minority language....
    : Herre, forbarm Dig
  • Dutch
    Dutch language

    Dutch is a West Germanic languages spoken by over 22 million people as a first language, and about 5 million people as a second language."1% of the EU population claims to speak Dutch well enough in order to have a conversation." Outside the European Union the number of second language speakers of Dutch is very small. Most native...
    : Heer, ontferm u
  • Esperanto
    Esperanto

    is the most widely spoken constructed language international auxiliary language in the world. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto, the pseudonym under which L....
    : Eternulo, kompatu
  • Estonian
    Estonian

    Estonian may refer to:* Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in Northern Europe.* Estonians - people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent....
    : Issand, halasta
  • Persian
    Persian language

    name=Persian|nativename=|pronunciation=[f??r'si]|image=|caption=Farsi in Perso-Arabic script |states= Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Bahrain....
    : ????????? ? ?? ?? ??? ??
  • Finnish
    Finnish language

    Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by Finnish people outside of Finland. It is one of the official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden....
    : Herra armahda
  • French
    French language

    French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
    : Seigneur, prends pitié
  • German
    German language

    German is a West Germanic languages, thus related to and classified alongside English language and Dutch language. It is one of the world's world language and the most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union....
    : Herr, erbarme Dich unser
  • Georgian
    Georgian language

    Georgian is the official language of Georgia , a country in the Caucasus .Georgian is the primary language of about 3.9 million people in Georgia itself, and of another 500,000 abroad ....
    : ?????, ?????????? (up'alo shegvitsk'ale)
  • Gaelic (Scotland): A Thighearna, dčan trňcair oirnn
  • Hebrew
    Hebrew language

    Hebrew is a Semitic languages of the Afro-Asiatic languages. Modern Hebrew is spoken by more than seven million people in Israel and Classical Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jews communities around the world....
    : ???? ??? ?? (Adon Rakhem Nah)
  • Hill Mari
    Mari language

    The Mari language , spoken by more than 600,000 people, belongs to the Finno-Ugric languages branch of the Uralic languages language family. It is spoken primarily in the Mari El of the Russian Federation as well as in the area along the Vyatka River river basin and eastwards to the Ural Mountains....
    : ????, ?ä????ä
  • Hungarian
    Hungarian language

    Hungarian is a Uralic languages unrelated to most other languages in Europe. It is mainly spoken in Hungary and by the Hungarian minorities in the seven neighbouring countries....
    : Uram, irgalmazz
  • Icelandic
    Icelandic language

    Icelandic is a North Germanic languages, the language of Iceland. Its closest relative is Faroese language and Norwegian dialects such as Telemark dialect and Sognam?l....
    : Drottinn, miskunna ţú oss
  • Indonesian
    Indonesian language

    Indonesian is the official national language of Indonesia. It is based on a version of Malay language from the Riau islands in western Indonesia, today called Riau Indonesian....
    : Tuhan, kasihanilah kami
  • Italian
    Italian language

    Italian is a Romance languages spoken by about 63 million people as a first language, primarily in Italy. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four Linguistic geography of Switzerlands....
    : Signore, pietŕ
  • Japanese
    Japanese language

    IPA: [n?iho?go] is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is related to the Ryukyuan languages....
    : ??????????? (Shuyo, awaremitamae.)
  • Korean
    Korean language

    Korean is the official language of North Korea and South Korea. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China....
    : ??, ??? ???? (Junim, jabireul baepusoseo.)
  • Latin
    Latin

    Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
    : Domine, miserere
  • Latvian
    Latvian language

    Latvian is the official state language of Latvia. Alternative names include Lettish and Lettisch. There are about 1.5 million native Latvian speakers in Latvia and about 150,000 abroad....
    : Kungs, apželojies
  • Lithuanian
    Lithuanian language

    Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognised as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad....
    : Viešpatie, pasigailek
  • Macedonian
    Macedonian language

    Macedonian is the official language of the Republic of Macedonia and is a part of the Eastern group of South Slavic languages. Macedonian is closely related to and shares a high degree of mutual intelligibility with the Bulgarian language, Serbian language, Bosnian language, and Croatian language languages....
    : ???????, ???????
  • Malayalam: Kurielaison
  • Maori
    Maori language

    Maori or te reo Maori, also commonly shortened to te reo , functions as one of the official languages of New Zealand. Linguists classify it within the Eastern Polynesian languages as closely related to Cook Islands Maori, Tuamotuan language and Tahitian language; somewhat less closely to Hawaiian language and Marquesan language; a...
    : E te Ariki, kia aroha mai
  • Meadow Mari
    Mari language

    The Mari language , spoken by more than 600,000 people, belongs to the Finno-Ugric languages branch of the Uralic languages language family. It is spoken primarily in the Mari El of the Russian Federation as well as in the area along the Vyatka River river basin and eastwards to the Ural Mountains....
    : ??? ??????? (Yumo serlage)
  • Malti
    Maltese language

    Maltese is the national language of Malta, and a co-official Languages of Malta alongside English language,while also serving as an Languages of the European Union European Union, the only Semitic languages so distinguished....
    : Kristu hniena
  • Ndebele
    Ndebele language

    There are at least two languages commonly called Ndebele:*The Northern Ndebele language, a Nguni languages spoken in Zimbabwe*The Southern Ndebele language, classified as Nguni languages or Sotho-Tswana languages, spoken in South Africa, heavily influenced by surrounding Sotho-Tswana languages and therefore mostly classified a...
    : Nkosi, sihawukele
  • Norwegian
    Norwegian language

    Norwegian is a North Germanic languages language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is an official language. It is also spoken as a second language among Norwegian-Americans in the United States of America, especially in the central northern states....
    : Herre, miskunne Deg
  • Polish
    Polish language

    Polish , an official language of Poland, has the largest number of speakers of any West Slavic languages. Polish-speakers use the language in a uniform manner through most of Poland, and it has a regular orthography....
    : Panie zmiluj sie
  • Portuguese
    Portuguese language

    Portuguese is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia and Portugal. It is derived from the Latin language spoken by the Romanization Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula around 2000 years ago....
    : Senhor, tende piedade
  • Romanian
    Romanian language

    Romanian or Daco-Romanian ; self-designation: limba rom?na, ) is a Romance languages spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova....
    : Doamne miluieste
  • Russian
    Russian language

    Russian is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages, and the largest native language in Europe....
    : ???????, ??????? (Gospodi, pomiluj)
  • Samoan
    Samoan language

    The Samoan or Samoan language is the traditional language of Samoa and American Samoa and is an official language—alongside English language—in both jurisdictions....
    : Le Ali'i e, alofa mai
  • Serbian
    Serbian language

    name=Serbian|nativename=|pronunciation=['sr?pski?]|familycolor=Indo-European|map=|states=See below under "Official status", besides that in Croatia and as an immigrant's language spread over Central Europe and Western Europe, as well as Northern America...
    : Gospodi pomiluj
  • Shona
    Shona language

    Shona is a Bantu languages, native to the Shona people of Zimbabwe and southern Zambia; the term is also used to identify peoples who speak one of the Shona language dialects, namely Zezuru, Karanga, Manyika, Ndau and Korekore....
    : Mambo tinzwireiwo tsitsi
  • Slovak
    Slovak language

    The Slovak language , sometimes incorrectly called ?Slovakian?, is an Indo-European languages that belongs to the West Slavic languages .The Czech and Slovak languages are Mutual intelligibility which means that even after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia Czech may be used in all official proceedings and documents in Slovakia, and vice ver...
    : Pane, zmiluj sa
  • Slovene
    Slovenian language

    Slovene or Slovenian is a South Slavic languages spoken by approximately 2.4 million speakers worldwide, the majority of whom live in Slovenia....
    : Gospod, usmili se
  • Spanish
    Spanish language

    Spanish or Castilian is a Romance languages that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade....
    : Seńor, ten piedad
  • Swedish
    Swedish language

    Swedish is a North Germanic languages language, spoken by around 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along the coast and on the ?land islands....
    : Herre, förbarma Dig
  • Syriac
    Syriac language

    Syriac is a dialect of Middle Aramaic that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. Classical Syriac became a major literary language throughout the Middle East from the 4th to the 8th centuries, the classical language of Edessa, Mesopotamia, preserved in a large body of Syriac literature....
    : Moran Ethraham
  • Tagalog
    Tagalog language

    Tagalog is one of the major languages used in the Philippines. It is a basis for the Filipino language, which is the principal language of the national television and radio, though broadsheet newspapers are almost completely in English....
    : Panginoon, kaawaan mo kami
  • Thai
    Thai language

    Thai , is the national language and official language language of Thailand and the mother tongue of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group....
    : ?????????????? ?????????????
  • Turkish
    Turkish language

    Turkish is a language spoken by over 63 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Cyprus, with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and other parts of Eastern Europe....
    : Rabbim, bize merhamet eyle
  • Ukrainian
    Ukrainian language

    Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic languages of the Slavic languages. It is the official language of Ukraine. In some areas of Russia there are dialects, Balachka or Surzhyk, which are the Ukrainianized versions of the Russian language....
    : ??????? ??????? (Hospody pomyluj)
  • Vietnamese
    Vietnamese language

    Vietnamese , formerly known under French colonization as Annamese , is the national language and official language language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of the Vietnamese people , who constitute 86% of Demographics of Vietnam, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese, most of whom live in the United States....
    : Xin Chúa thuong xót chúng con.
  • Welsh
    Welsh language

    Welsh ]], is a member of the Brythonic branch of Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, in England by some along the Welsh Marches and in the Welsh settlement in Argentina in the Chubut Valley in Argentina Patagonia....
    : Arglwydd, trugarha wrthym


    • See also

    • Jesus Prayer
      Jesus Prayer

      The Jesus Prayer or "The Prayer" , also called the Prayer of the Heart and "Prayer of the Mind " , is a short, formulaic prayer often uttered repeatedly....
    • List of Greek phrases
      List of Greek phrases

      List of Greek language Phrases/Proverbs...


    External links