It was 'fa, a long, long way to run' in the Sound of Music, but what is the true origin of ' re, mi, fa, so, la, te ' in tonic sol-fa ? That is, why and how were these 'notes' chosen ?
"In music and sight singing solfege or solmization is a way of assigning syllables to degrees or steps of the diatonic scale. In order, they are: Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, and Do (for the octave). "
Yes, the answer is in your link SR. They are from a medieval hymn, written in Latin.The names were taken from the first syllable of each phrase, each being sung higher than the last. 'Do' was originally 'ut' but 'ut' was not easy to sing and so 'do' was substituted. 'Ti' was an English change of 'Si' which was itself introduced later than the others (and made from two initial letters, too ) It is likely that 'do' was taken from Domine ( "(Oh) Lord " ) or Domini ( " of the Lord"), commonly found in church writing.Domine is often found as a word introducing or following a prayer or hymn. The hymn used was :
Ut queant laxis, Resonare fibris, Mira gestorum, Famuli tuorum, Solve pollutis, Labiis reatum, Sancti Iohannes
