1. _Tonic_--the tone. (This refers to the fact that the tonic is the principal tone, or generating tone of the key, _i.e._, it is _the_ tone.)
3. _Mediant_--midway between tonic and dominant.
4. _Sub-dominant_--the under dominant. (This name does not refer to the position of the tone under the dominant but to the fact that the fifth below the tonic is also a dominant tone--the under dominant--just as the fifth above is the upper dominant).
5. _Dominant_--the governing tone. (From the Latin word _dominus_ meaning _master_.)
6. _Super-dominant_--above the dominant. Or _Sub-mediant_--midway between tonic and sub-dominant.
7. _Leading tone_--the tone which demands resolution to the tonic (one-half step above it).
92. The syllables commonly applied to the various major and minor scales in teaching sight-singing are as follows:[16]
[Footnote 16: These syllables are said to have been derived originally from the initial syllables of the "Hymn to Saint John," the music of which was a typical Gregorian chant. The application of these syllables to the scale tones will be made clear by reference to this hymn as given below. It will be observed that this hymn provided syllables only for the six tones of the _hexachord_ then recognized; when the octave scale was adopted (early in the sixteenth century) the initial letters of the last line (s and i) were combined into a syllable for the seventh tone.
[Illustration: _Ut_ que-ant lax-is _Re_-so-na-re fi-bris _Mi_-ra ges-to-rum _Fa_-mu-li tu-o-rum _Sol_-ve pol-lu-ti _La_-bi-i re-a-tum Sanc-te Jo-han-nes.]]
Minor[17]--original--LA, TI, DO, RE, MI, FA, SOL, LA. harmonic--LA, TI, DO, RE, MI, FA, SI, LA. melodic--LA, TI, DO, RE, MI, FI, SI, LA, SOL, FA, MI, RE, DO, TI, LA.
[Footnote 17: A considerable number of teachers (particularly those who did not learn to sing by syllable in childhood) object to calling the tonic of the minor scale _la_, insisting that both major and minor tonic should be called _do_. According to this plan the syllables used in singing the harmonic minor scale would be: DO, RE, ME, FA, SOL, LE, TI, DO.
There is no particular basis for this theory, for although all scales must of course begin with the key-tone or tonic, this tonic may be referred to by any syllable which will serve as a basis for an association process enabling one to feel the force of the tone as a closing point--a _home tone_. Thus in the Dorian mode the tonic would be RE, in the Phrygian, MI, etc.]