evovae

Noun

euouae (plural not attested)

1. (no plural) In medieval music, a mnemonic for the Latin words saeculōrum and āmēn (from “ […] in saecula saeculōrum. Āmēn.” from the Gloria Patri doxology), used in liturgical works to indicate how the words should be sung with various cadences.
   • In the publicke ſervice of the Romiſh Maſſe there are words truly ridiculous, and which never were other then worthleſſe, as Evovae, Miſerere nobis, & Stabat mater doloroſa, and many the like, which nevertheleſſe in the Church of Rome are not ridiculous, becauſe they are authoriſed by the divine...[1630, Peter du Moulin, “An Examination of Our Adversaries Reasons: Especially of Those of Mounsieur the Cardinal du Perron”, in Richard Baylie, transl., The Antibarbarian: Or, A Treatise Concerning...
2. (broadly, no plural) A cadence used to sing those words of the Gloria Patri.
   • The euouae, initials, and finials of all the modes, are given in this kind of notation very amply, and always on five lines, and ſpaces.1819, Abraham Rees, “ODINGTON, Walter”, in The Cyclopædia; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature. […], volume XXV, London: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, & Brown, […] [et al.]...