Is it 'the Proper' or 'Propers'?
  • sergeantedward
    Posts: 186
    <begin nerd>

    I say 'ordinaries' and 'propers' as shorthand, but am wondering if this is correct. These words come from the complete phrases: the Proper of the Mass and the Ordinary of the Mass. Wouldn't saying 'the Proper' as a collective noun be more correct than saying 'Propers'?

    "A mass noun signifies unbounded amounts, such as liquid, small objects, and abstract or immeasurable concepts. E.g., water, rice, and education are mass nouns. A noun is considered a mass noun when its use cannot be counted, modified or quantified in a relevant and logical manner linguistically."

    I just think this is interesting, grammatically. If we were to only refer to them as "the Proper" and "the Ordinary", then it speaks of their oneness and indivisibility (which is what a mass noun expresses) rather than their individual parts and ability to be broken up (which is what a count noun expresses).

    After all, doesn't the Mass have only one Proper and one Ordinary?

    (I might be totally off base and be forgetting something obvious... Just thinking out loud here!)

    </end nerd>
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    I'd say, over thinking it:

    Textually, there is one Ordinary of the Mass, but there are 18 Ordinaries in the Vatican Ed. Kyriale Romanum, + X Ordinaries by Palestrina. So I'd use 'Ordinary' when referring to the text of the Mass, 'Ordinaries' when referring to musical settings there-of.

    Similarly, perhaps one would use 'Proper' when referring to the 'Proper of the Mass for the 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time', and 'Propers' to collectively refer to all the sets of Propers in the Graduale Romanum.
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen donr
  • donr
    Posts: 971
    Salieri, excellent point:
    The Proper of the Mass for the 23rd SofOT has many Proper text associated with it.
    The Propers are all of the Proper Text for all Sundays, Holidays, Solemnities and week day Masses for that matter.
  • ContinuousbassContinuousbass
    Posts: 357
    I tend to say antiphons/chants proper to a particular mass ie the 33rd Sunday in ordinary time; and chants ordinary to the holy mass.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
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