recitativon.

Etymology: < Italian recitativo (apparently 1662 or earlier: compare quot. 1662), short for cantar recitativo , literally ‘recitative song’ < cantar act of singing, song, melody (first half of the 13th cent.; use as noun of cantar to sing: see chant v.) + recitativo of or belonging to a recital, (of words) to be recited or declaimed (a1647 or earlier: see below), probably < recitare recite v. + -ativo -ative suffix. Compare post-classical Latin recitative , adverb (from 14th cent. in British and continental sources). Compare slightly earlier recitative n. and the foreign-language forms cited at that entry.The following probably reflects Italian stile recitativo (a1647; < stile style n. + recitativo ), although it is attested earlier:a1637 B. Jonson Lovers Made Men (rev. ed.) 27 in Wks. (1640) III The whole Maske was sung (after the Italian manner) Stylo recitativo. Französisches etymol. Wörterbuch at recitare suggests that Italian recitativo (adjective) may be a borrowing < French recitatif recitative adj.², which then underwent semantic specialization. However, this seems unlikely in view of the fact that the French adjective is apparently rare, and that, given the prominent role of Italian in the development of musical terminology, borrowing < French into Italian would be unusual. It is more likely that Italian recitativo was a regular deverbal formation, and this is the view taken by recent dictionaries of Italian. In plural form recitativi after the Italian plural form.