semItism

[Eng. Semit (e): ism.] A Semitic idiom or word; the adoption of what is peculiarly Semitic. sem-I-tone, subst . [Pref. semi- , and Eng. tone (q. v.).] Music : A half tone, or an approximate half of a tone; there are three kinds-greater, le er, and natural. An interval of sound, as between mi and fa on the diatonic scale, which is only half the dis tance of the interval between do and re, or sol and la . "A series of sounds relating to one leading note is called a mode, or a tone, and there are twelve semitones in the scale, each of which may be made in its turn the leader of a mode." -Jones: Imitative Arts .