TIME (Lat. Tempus, Tactus; Ital. Tempo, Misura, Tatto; Fr. Mesure; Germ. Takt, Taktart, Taktordnung).
No musical term has been invested with a greater or more confusing variety of significations than the word Time; nor is this vagueness confined to the English language. In the Middle Ages, as we shall show, its meaning was very limited; and bore but a very slight relation to the extended signification accorded to it in modern Music. It is now used in two senses, between which...