Canticle

Word of the Day for Saturday, December 24, 2011

canticle \KAN-ti-kuhl\, noun:

1. A song, poem, or hymn especially of praise.
2. One of the nonmetrical hymns or chants, chiefly from the Bible, used in church services.

And, yes, finally, I understood the love in this canticle not just as love between man and woman as they unite, but between the Creator and His people, our Israel.
-- Donna Jo Napoli, Song of the Magdalene

Of course, anyone who writes canticles must know the life of the saint to perfection, to the least trivial detail.
-- Anton Chekhov, The Bishop and Other Stories

Canticle comes from the Latin word canticum meaning “song.” (That is also the root of “canto.”) The suffix -ule implies a diminutive version, like the word capsule.

Thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/