Climacus

(from Gk. klimax: ‘ladder’).

In Western chant notations, a neume signifying three notes in descending order. It was often written as a virga (upright stroke) with puncta (dots) falling away to the right, a form known as virga subbipunctis. (For illustration see Notation, Table 1; see also M. Huglo: ‘Les noms des neumes et leur origine’, EG, i, 1954, pp.53–67.)

DAVID HILEY