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Stage 1 of 4
fugere
Latin · ancient
"to flee; a fleeing"
the verb of fleeing, giving the noun fuga
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Stage 2 of 4
fuga
Italian · medieval
"flight"
kept the literal sense of flight
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Stage 3 of 4
fuge
English · 1590s
"a musical form of imitative voices"
borrowed for a musical form where one melodic voice seems to flee and others pursue it
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Stage 4 of 4
fugue
English · 1660s
"a contrapuntal musical composition"
the spelling was refashioned after the French rendering of the Italian word
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