† bemol Obs.
Also 5 bemole, 7 beemol.
[a. Fr. Bemol (med.L. B mollis) ‘softened B.’ In the harmonic system of Guido of Arezzo, which divided the scale into hexachords beginning from every G, C, and F, it was found necessary in the hexachord which started on F to introduce an additional note a semitone lower than B, which note was called B mollis, or Bemol; this was written in the old literal notation as a rounded b, a sign afterwards corrupted into ♭: see B II. i.]
1. Name given to B♭, when that note was first introduced into the scale.
| a 1327 Rel. Ant. I. 292 Thu holdest nowt a note..in riht ton..Thu bitist a-sonder bequarre, for bemol i the blame. 1387 Trevisa Higden Rolls Ser. I. 355 [In their harp-playing they] bygynneþ from bemol [L. a B molli incipiunt]. a 1529 Skelton P. Sparow 530 Synge the verse, Libera me, In de, la, soll, re, Softly bemole For my sparowes soule. |
2. By extension: a. A flat.
| 1609 Douland Ornithop. Microl. 6 Of Voyces, some are called b Mols, Naturals, Sharps. 1656 [see 2 b]. |
b. A semitone.
| 1626 Bacon Sylva §104 There be intervenient in the Rise of Eight (in Tones) two Beemolls, or Half-notes. Ibid. §105 There fall out to be two Beemols between the Vnison and the Diapason. [1656 Blount Glossogr., Beemol (Fr.), the flat key in musick. Bacon.] |