מַקֵּשׁ

The word "מַקֵּשׁ" (makesh) was established by the Music Terminology Committee of the Hebrew Language Committee in 1945 as a term for piano keys. The term was based on the term "מַקֵּשׁ" which was used to describe the sticks used to produce sound in percussion instruments, from the root n-k-sh. In 1947, the Office Terminology Committee of the Hebrew Language Committee adopted the term to describe the buttons on typewriters. In 1952, the Music Terminology Committee of the Hebrew Language Committee decided to abandon the term "מַקֵּשׁ" for piano keys and replace it with "קְלִיד" (klid), but the term "מַקֵּשׁ" remained in use for typewriter keys and later - for computer keys. Before the establishment of the term "מַקֵּשׁ", there were various attempts to find a Hebrew term for piano keys. Zvi HaCohen Rabinowitz called them "גּוּפִים מְשַׁמְשִׁים" (gufim meshamshim, 1866), a calque of their German name Tasten. A similar term was "גְּשִׁישִים" (geshishim), which was used in an article published in the newspaper "HaTzfira" in 1904. Eliezer Ben-Yehuda called them "מַכּוֹשִׁים" (makoshim) in 1906, as the name of a kind of small hammer in the Talmud, and called the piano "מַכּוֹשִׁית" (makoshit), but these innovations were not accepted. The term that was mainly used among pianists in the early 20th century was "מְנַעַנְעִים" (mena'ane'im), the name of a mysterious musical instrument mentioned in the Book of Samuel II (6:5).