A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Evovae
Appearance
EVOVAE (Euouae vel Euouæ). A technical word, formed from the vowels of the last clause of the 'Gloria Patri'—seculorum. Amen; and used, in mediaeval Office-Books, as an abbreviation, when, at the close of an Antiphon, it is necessary to indicate the Ending of the Tone adapted to the following Psalm, or Canticle.
The following example, indicating the Second Ending of the First Tone, is taken from an Office-Book printed at Magdeburg in 1613.
An amusingly erroneous account of the origin of this word is noticed in vol. ii. 462 a, note.[ W. S. R. ]