Sheminith

In the titles of Psa 6:1-10 ; 12:1-8, and in 1Ch 15:21 . It means properly the eighth, and seems to have been not an instrument, but a part in music, perhaps the lowest.\par

Shem’inith. (eighth). A musical term found in the title of Psa 6:1. A similar direction is found in the title of Psa 12:1. Compare 1Ch 15:21. It seems most probable that Sheminith denotes a certain air known as the eighth, or a certain key in which the psalm was to be sung.

Psalm 6 and Psalm 12’s title. Feminine of shemini, "the eighth" (Exo 22:32); 1Ch 15:21, "the singers were appointed with harps on the sheminith to excel," or "oversee." Gesenius explains, the lowest of the three keys of the human voice, an octave or eighth below the treble; the bass sung by men; as "on alamoth" answers to the treble or female voice, as alamoth means. Hengstenberg takes it as indicating the time measured according to the number eight. Septuagint and Vulgate translated "concerning" or "for the eighth."

[Shemi’nith]

A Hebrew word in the headings of Psa 6 and Psa 12, and in 1Ch 15:21. It will be seen that in the margin these passages read ’on the eighth,’ with which the LXX agrees. It was probably an instrument of eight strings (from shemoneh, ’eight’). Gesenius says it means ’octave’; hence the lowest notes of the scale, and sung by men.

SHEMINITH.—See art. Psalms, p. 772^a.

shem´i-nith. See MUSIC; PSALMS.

The exact meaning of this word

is not known, but it may refer to a type

of instrument, a special way of tuning an

instrument, or one of the groups that

played harps in the Temple orchestra.

See 1 Chron. 15:21.