Asterisk

ASTERISCO. – This is the name given to a small star used in liturgical books to mark, with a pause, the middle of each verse in the psalms, so as to facilitate the coordination of voices in communal recitation and indicate the place of the mediana in singing. It is also used in Responsories to distinguish the refrain, and in Antiphons to mark the beginning suitable for intonation. As for the a, as an instrument in the Eastern liturgy, V. ASERAH.

Enrico Cattaneo