Tonus peregrinus

[2] It is this diversion from a single recitation note which gives the name peregrinus, literally "wanders".

[1] Traditionally, the tenor note in the first half of a verse sung according to the tonus peregrinus is a tone higher than the tenor note in the second half of the verse.

[2] In Gregorian chant the tonus peregrinus existed before the modal system was expanded beyond the eighth mode.

[3] The tonus peregrinus is an exceptional reciting tone in Gregorian chant: there it was most clearly associated with Psalm 113 (in the Vulgate numbering), traditionally sung in vespers.

In Lutheranism, the tonus peregrinus is associated with the Magnificat (also usually sung in vespers): the traditional setting of Luther's German translation of the Magnificat ("Meine Seele erhebt den Herren") is a German variant of the tonus peregrinus.