matins
/ˈmatɪnz
/(also mattins)
noun
1A Christian service of morning prayer, especially in the Anglican Church.Morning prayer, known as matins, and evening prayer, known as vespers or evensong, are most common....
- Most importantly they had to pray seven times a day from the matins in the early morning to the vespers in the evening.
- Shrouded by early morning mists, cloaked in oak and beech woods that echo with the sound of matin bells and Gregorian chant, these venerable ruins bring the most distant history to life.
1.1A service forming part of the traditional Divine Office of the Western Christian Church, originally said (or chanted) at or after midnight.
1.2 (also matin) literary The morning song of birds.
Origin
Middle English: from Old French matines, plural (influenced by Church Latin matutinae 'morning prayers') of matin 'morning', from Latin matutinum, neuter of matutinus 'early in the morning', from Matuta, the name of the dawn goddess.