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cantillation
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Cantillation

Cantillation \Can`til*la"tion\, n. A chanting; recitation or reading with musical modulations.

Wiktionary
cantillation

n. The intonation of a sentence, codified by marks which are read as sequences of musical pitches.

WordNet
cantillation

n. liturgical chanting

Wikipedia
Cantillation

Cantillation is the ritual chanting of readings from the Hebrew Bible in synagogue services. The chants are written and notated in accordance with the special signs or marks printed in the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible (or Tanakh) to complement the letters and vowel points. These marks are known in English as accents or trope symbols, and in Hebrew as ta`amei ha-mikra or just te`amim. Some of these signs were also sometimes used in medieval manuscripts of the Mishnah. The musical motifs associated with the signs are known in Hebrew as niggun or neginot (not to be confused with Hasidic nigun) and in Yiddish as trop: the word trope is sometimes used in English with the same meaning.

Usage examples of "cantillation".

Not at all ineptly, Mefistofele, who does not admire the Cherubs, likens their monotonous cantillation to the hum of bees.