cantilena

cantĭlēna, ae, f. [cantillo].

I.

In anteclass. and class. lang., a song, in a disparaging sense, an old song; vulg. for silly, trite prattle, gossip:

ut crebro mihi insusurret cantilenam suam,

Cic. Att. 1, 19, 8: totam istam cantilenam ex hoc pendere, ut quam plurimum lucri faciant, Brut. ap. Cic. Fam. 11, 20, 2: qui non Graeci alicujus cottidianam loquacitatem sine usu, neque ex scholis cantilenam requirunt, Cic. de Or. 1, 23, 105.—Prov.: cantilenam eandem canis, = to auto adeis asma, ever the old song, Ter. Phorm. 3, 2, 10.—

II.

Postclass. in a good sense, a song, in gen., Gell. 9, 4, 14; so id. 19, 9, 8:

in cantilenis et proverbiis,

Vulg. Ecclus. 47, 18:

cantilenas meditari pro jubilo molliores,

Amm. 22, 4, 6; of a lampoon, Vop. Aur. 7, 2; cf. Fest. p. 181, 16 Müll.