pla|gal

pla|gal «PLAY guhl», adjective. Music.

1. designating a cadence in which the chord of the subdominant immediately precedes that of the tonic.

2. (in Gregorian music) designating a mode that has its compass a fourth below that of the corresponding authentic mode. The keynote (final tone) is the same as in the authentic mode (the fourth tone of the plagal mode).

╂[< Medieval Latin plagalis < plaga plagal mode, apparently alteration of plagius plagal < Medieval Greek plagios < Greek, oblique < plágos side]