‖ hemiolia Mus. Obs. exc. Hist.
(hɛmɪˈəʊlɪə)
Also 6 hemiola, 7 hemiolion, hemolios, 8 hemiolius.
[med.L. hēmiolia, a. Gr. ἡµιολία (sc. διάστασις interval, in Plato), fem. of ἡµιόλιος ‘in the ratio of one and a half to one’, f. ἡµι- hemi- + ὅλος whole.]
In mediæval music. a. A perfect fifth, so called because produced by shortening a string to two-thirds of its length. b. Three notes in the place of two; a triplet.
| 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. 30 That proportion which the musitions falselie termed Hemiola, when in deede it is nothing else but a round Tripla. 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 1358 (Stanf.) The proportion of the Musicke or Symphonie Diatessaron, is Epitritos or Sesquitertiall, that is to say, the whole and a third part over: of Diapente, Hemolios or Sesquialterall..the whole and halfe as much more. 1651 J. F[reake] Agrippa's Occ. Philos. 182 Harmony contains three consents in tune, Diapason, Hemiolion, Diatessaron. 1727–51 Chambers Cycl. 1880 in Grove Dict. Mus. I. 727. |