Mus. ? Obs. [ad. Gr. τριημιτόνιον, f. τρι-, TRI- + ἡμιτόνιον HEMITONE.] An interval of three semitones, or a tone and a semitone; a minor third; esp. that used in the ancient Greek (Pythagorean) scale.
1694. W. Holder, Harmony (1731), 61. I would … call the greater Third (as the Greeks do) Ditone,… and the Third Minor, Trihemitone..., as consisting of three half-Tones, (or rather of a Tone and half a Tone).
1746. Phil. Trans., XLIV. 268. The Trihemitone of the Ancients falls short of the third Minor by a Comma.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., s.v. Interval, Trihemitone of the Greek Scale, or deficient third Minor, 32/27,… Third Minor, 6/5,… Trihemitone Major, 4096/3375.
