cantō

1. Canere (from καναχεῖν) means, in the most general sense, to make music, voce, tibiis, fidibus, like μέλπειν; cantare, with vocal music, like ἀείδειν; psallere, with instrumental music, and indeed with string-instruments, like ψάλλειν. 2. Cantica and cantilenæ are only songs adapted for singing, in which, as in popular ballads, the words and melodies are inseparable, and serve to excite mirth and pleasure, in opp. to speech, and that which is spoken; and, indeed, canticum means a favorite piece, still in vogue; cantilena, a piece which, being generally known, has lost the charm of novelty, and is classed with old songs; whereas carmina and poemata are poems which may be sung, but the words of which claim value as a work of art, and serve religion or music as an art, in opp. to prose and real truth; carmina, indeed, were originally religious hymns, ἐπῳδαί, and, in a wider sense, poems of another sort, mostly, however, minor poems, and of a lyrical sort, like ᾠδαι; but poemata are the products of cultivated art, and extensive poems, mostly of the epic or tragic sort, like ποιήματα. The carmen (κάρω, κράζω) is the fruit of natural, but the poema of calm and self-conscious inspiration. 3. Poeta is a technical expression, and denotes a poet only as an artist; vates (ἠχέτης) is an old Latin and religious expression, and denotes a poet as a sacred person. Tac. Dial. 9. (v. 99.)