In the titles of Ps 6; 12, 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.

eight; octave, a musical term, supposed to denote the lowest note sung by men's voices (1Ch 15:21; Ps 6; 12, title).

Psalm 6 and Psalm 12's title. Feminine of shemini, "the eighth" (Ex 22:31); 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 Ps. 6 and Ps. 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.

Shem'inith

(eighth), a musical term found in the title of

Ps 6:1

A similar direction is found in the title of

Ps 12:1

Comp. 1Chr 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.