INCIPIT Definition & Meaning

incipit

[ in-si-pit; Latin ing-ki-pit ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

the introductory words or opening phrases in the text of a medieval manuscript or an early printed book.
Music. the first words of a chanted liturgical text, as that of a Gregorian chant or certain medieval motets.

incipit

/ ˈɪ�԰�ɪ��ɪ�� /

(no translation)

here begins: used as an introductory word at the beginning of some medieval manuscripts

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51�Թ� History and Origins

Origin of incipit¹

1895–1900; < Latin: (here) begins, 3rd-person singular present of incipere

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Next to the name of the weaver’s apprentice were three ominous words: “Hic incipit pestis.”

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Like him, I began with only one sentence, the incipit of all further conversation.

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As some specific titles, especially in poetry, would have been used in works by multiple authors, it is also likely that some labels included an “incipit”—the first line of the work.

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When Beardsley created “Incipit Vita Nova,” he was not yet twenty years old.

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The impressive piece, ready to be installed at Newcastle upon Tyne's Castle Keep, is a modern tribute to the incipit of St John's Gospel in principio erat Verbum - "in the beginning was the 51�Թ�."

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