The origins of Hymmnos and the Hymmnos script are ancient, existing even before the father of Sound Science discovered Sound Magic in the First Era. Though not called Hymmnos at the time, the chants common to the shamans, called Tsukikanade (Moon Chanters), laid the foundations for the language that was to emerge.

Deriving from the grammar and phonetics of the shamans' chants, Hymmnos was formalized as a language optimized for controlling and communicating with Towers.

The original Hymmnos language that spread across the world underwent subtle changes depending on the region and sect in which it was used, and the language's lexicon steadily evolved. Because of this evolutionary process, Hymmnos features dialects and archaisms, just like English, Japanese, and every other living language in the contemporary world.

• Central Standard Note (Standard)
• Cult Ciel Note (Ancient language from before the First Era)
• Cluster Note (Cluster Area Language)
• Alpha Note (Origin Spell)
• Ancient Metafalss Note (Sacred language from the First Era)
• New Testament of Pastalie (Pastalie Dialect)

"Central" refers to the first Tower, Ar tonelico, considered the core of Song Magic in the First Era. Because of this, the chants optimized for controlling Towers are the domain of Central Standard Note. However, this does not mean that control chants are limited to Central Standard Note; any dialect can be home to chants that control Towers, but they are generally not optimal. Central Standard Note is, effectively, a standardized, prescriptive form of Hymmnos, agreed upon by the Tower administration in Sol Ciel's capital, El Elemia, not unlike the ISO standards in use on Earth in the 20th and 21st centuries.

The nature of this standardization is such that anything accepted from any dialect becomes part of Central Standard Note, meaning that queries and access requests are expressed in a standardized manner. Because of this evolutionary design, it is not uncommon to find Central Standard Note used in conjunction with other dialects.

Cult Ciel Note is a more streamlined form of the chants of the Tsukikanade, the shamans whose grammar and phonetics formed the basis of Hymmnos. As a dialect, it is largely unused in modern communication and it is, essentially, dead.

Originating in the First Era, in the Sol Cluster region -- an area far-removed from the Sol Ciel region, which is on the other side of the planet -- Cluster Note evolved. Relative to Central Standard Note, Cluster Note is like a dialect, but its effects (in terms of its capacity for controlling Towers -ed) are virtually identical. At present, none in the lands of Ar tonelico can make use of Cluster Note, but it is possible that, somewhere in the world, a settlement exists, based around this dialect.

Origin Reyvateils, only three of which are known to exist, can construct optimized Hymmnos by themselves. The Hymmnos they generate belong to the Alpha Note dialect.

Alpha Note is limited in that it cannot yield practical results if it is not used in conjunction with the Tower managed by the Origin that created it.

This is because, unlike how the other dialects are collections of Hymmnos derived from current language specifications (Reyvateils speaking these dialects can construct novel phrases using pre-defined Hymmnos, much like how humans form sentences), Alpha Note binds new Hymmnos to an extension of a Tower's functionality. Summarized, this means that only the Origin's Tower can interpret the Alpha Note Hymmnos she has defined, making it useless in the domain of other Towers; for this reason, Alpha Note is not a general-purpose dialect but a class of dialects.

A unique dialect originating in the early days of the First Era in the holy land of Metafalss, which held dominion over the world in the third millennium.

The power conveyed by a single Word of this dialect far exceeds that of the average Word found in Central Standard Note.

The motivations behind the fabrication of such strong Hymmnos rests in the beliefs of the society of Metafalss: in their land, spiritual ideology flourished much moreso than in any other region, and, as praise for the Tsukikanade, extensive effort was invested in the research and development of chants. Because of this, even as other regions were reaching the limits of what could be accomplished through conventional Song Magic, the people of Metafalss slowly overcame these limits, learning how to craft still-stronger chants, then refining and improving them.

Whether fortunate or not, because of their devotion to spiritual ideology, while other regions shifted the focus of their studies to science and discovered the significance of intonation and emotions in chants, the ways of the Tsukikanade continued to dominate the people of Metafalss, and their civilization's power rapidly declined in the fourth millennium. Ultimately, because of their standing, though weakened, political position with Sol Ciel, the words of Metafalss Note came to be registered in the Song Magic servers.

This is a new dialect that was created in the lands of Metafalss around 3400, specifically intended for use with Infel Phira, an entirely different Song Magic Server from Ar tonelico; only the I.P.D.s (Infel Phira Dependencies), the Reyvateil connected to Infel Phira, are able to use it. Because of its unique characteristics, its compatibility with other dialects is virtually nil, in terms of everything from its grammar through its lexicon. The manner by which commands are invoked has also changed, from "EXEC_XXXX/." to "METHOD_XXXX/."; in practice, however, emulation bridges allow for the support of other access methods: they are internally translated into statements in the New Testament, but the user may employ Hymmnos defined in, for example, Central Standard Note without modification.

The grammar of the New Testament is dramatically different from that of other Hymmnos originating from the First Era, so those interested in the Hymmnos language itself should learn its specific grammar, as well.