When David returned the Ark to Israel, the verse says: What is uncommon here, is that Hebrew already had a word for keys of musical instruments. That in itself isn't so remarkable - in Modern Hebrew there were multitudes of words that needed coining. Whatever the origin, the meaning stuck, and in English keys in that sense are used to refer the things pressed on both a piano and a typewriter (and keyboard).Īs Yaakov Etsion points out in this article, Hebrew was also faced with the question of what to call the keys of a piano. For example, this site shows how ancient organs were made by "adapting keys with levers." Others say that the two meanings arose independently, and that piano keys were so called because the way they were designed and assembled was similar to a lock and key. The word " keynote" preserves this sense, as it is the first (lowest) note of the scale. They also point out that the tone was called a "key" because it opened the scale. Some say that the earlier meaning, "tone, note" led to the sense of the mechanisms used to play those notes. What isn't clear from the Online Etymology Dictionary is if one meaning of key arose from the other. In addition to the mechanism in musical instruments, it also took another musical meaning: "a group of notes based on a particular note and comprising a scale." We see from here that "key" developed into two different meanings. Telegraphy by 1837 and later to typewriters (1876). Organs and pianos, by 1765 of wind instruments transferred to OED says this use "appears to be confined to Eng." First of 1500, probably also suggested by uses of clavis. Sense of "mechanism on a musical instrument operated by the player'sįingers" is from c. Translation of Latin clavis"key," used by Guido for "lowest tone of a scale," or French clef(see clef also see keynote). Relationships centering on a given tone." Probably this is based on a Relationships in the tones of a scale," also "melodic and harmonic The musical sense originally was "tone, note" (mid-15c.). The Online Etymology Dictionary mentions has the following passage in their entry for key: There are a number of different theories. So how did it come to be used for the levers of the piano? The word key originally meant "an instrument for opening locks," as it does today. And in fact, long before a keyboard referred to a device for typing on a computer, it was used to describe the set of keys used to play pianos, organs and other similar musical instruments. That device is the piano, with its 88 keys. Even if you weren't familiar with the Hebrew word, did you ever wonder why a keyboard is called that? The buttons you press when you type aren't actually "keys".īut if you think about a similar device upon which you press all your fingers, you might be able to understand the association better. To understand the background, we should focus on the last of the three words I mentioned above: mikledet. In Hebrew, hiklid הקליד means "he typed", haklada הקלדה is typing, and mikledet מקלדת means "keyboard." This root קלד, has a more interesting story than I expected. Surgery done through a very small cut in the body.The last post was discussing the word dfus דפוס - "printing," and how it derives from the Greek typos, meaning "type." At the end, I noted that the verb hidpis הדפיס means (perhaps surprisingly) "to print", not "to type." So today let's look at the Hebrew word meaning "to type." The pianist sat down at the keyboard and began to play A computer keyboard looks like that of a typewriter ( also adjective) harpsichords and other early keyboard instruments. the keys in a piano, typewriter etc arranged along or on a flat board. Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd.
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