leitmotif

WOTD – 28 July 2007    

English

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• leitmotiv
• leit-motif

Etymology

From German Leitmotiv (“leading motive”), from leiten (“to lead”) + Motiv (“motive”), originally used to describe Wagnerian opera.

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /ˈlaɪt.məʊˌtiːf/
• (US) IPA: /ˈlaɪt.moʊˌtif/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

leitmotif (plural leitmotifs)

1. (music) A melodic theme associated with a particular character, place, thing or idea in an opera.
2. A recurring theme.

Translations

melodic theme in an opera

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 主題 (cmn), 主题 (cmn) (zhǔtí)

• Finnish: johtoaihe (fi)
• French: leitmotiv (fr) m
• German: Leitmotiv (de) n

• Icelandic: leiðarstef (is) n
• Polish: lejtmotyw (pl) m
• Russian: лейтмотив (ru) (lejtmotív) m
• Spanish: leitmotiv (es) m
• Swedish: ledmotiv n