- antiphon (n.)
- c. 1500, "a versicle sung responsively," from Middle French antiphone "hymn" or directly from Medieval Latin antiphona, from Greek antiphona, from anti- "over against" (see anti-) + phone "voice," from PIE root *bha- (2) "to speak, tell, say" (see fame (n.)). A re-adoption of the word which had become anthem in English and lost its original meaning.
