‖ diatessaron
(daɪəˈtɛsərən)
Also 5–6 dya-, 5–7 diatesseron, 6 diathesaron.
[a. OF. diatessaron (Godfr.), a. L. diatessarōn, Gr. διὰ τεσσάρων through or composed of four.]
† 1. In Greek and mediæval music: The interval of a fourth. (Cf. diapason, diapente.) Obs.
| 1398 [see diapason 1]. 1413 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton) v. i. (1859) 72 Ofte amonges other, the lusty Dyatesseron felle in they songes. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 37 Mony smal birdis..singand..in accordis of mesure of diapason prolations, tripla ande dyatesseron. 1626 Bacon Sylva §107 The Concords in Musick..the Fourth which they call Diatesseron. 1694 Phil. Trans. XVIII. 70 A Diapente added to a Diatessaron makes a Diapason. 1857 Maurice Mor. & Met. Philos. III. v. §27. 183 The circle..the diatessaron in music, and the like are certain stable forms. |
† 2. In old Pharmacy, a medicine composed of four ingredients: see quot. 1883. Obs. [dia-2.]
| c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 264 He shal holde in his mouþ tiriacum diatesseron. 1577 Frampton Joyful News (1580) 119 a (Stanf.) The triacle Diathesaron. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 157 That enervating Liquor called Paunch..from Five Ingredients; as the Physicians name their Composition Diapente; or from Four things, Diatesseron. 1883 Syd. Soc. Lex., Diatessaron, old name for a medicine of gentian and Aristolochia rotunda roots, laurel berries, and myrrh, made into a confection with honey and extract of juniper; anciently used as alexipharmic. |
3. A harmony of the four Gospels.
From the title of the earliest work of the kind, the 2nd century Εὐαγγέλιον διὰ τεσσάρων, i.e. ‘gospel made up of four’, of Tatian.
| 1803 T. Thirlwall (title), Diatessaron; or the History of our Lord Jesus. 1805 R. Warner (title), The English Diatessaron; or the History of Christ, from the compounded Texts of the Four Evangelists. 1831 Macaulay Ess., Boswell's Johnson (1854) 174/2 Who would lose, in the confusion of a Diatessaron, the peculiar charm which belongs to the narrative of the disciple whom Jesus loved? 1887 Dict. Chr. Biog. IV. s.v. Tatianus, Tatian's Diatessaron found acceptance in the West as well as in the East. |
Hence † diateˈssarial a. Obs., belonging to a diatessaron (sense 1).
| 1501 Douglas Pal. Hon. i. xli, Proportionis fine with sound celestiall, Duplat, triplat, diatesseriall. |