מְנַעַנְעִים

The word "מְנַעַנְעִים" (mena'ane'im) appears in the Bible only once, in the Book of Samuel II (6:5): "And David and all the house of Israel played before the LORD on all manner of instruments made of cypress wood, and on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on mena'ane'im, and on cymbals." This refers to a musical instrument whose exact nature is unknown. In the early 20th century, this mysterious word was adopted among Hebrew musicians as a term for piano keys. The use of this word was first documented in this meaning in an article that appeared in the journal "HaMelitz" in 1872, and continued to be used during the first half of the 20th century. In 1945, the Music Terminology Committee of the Hebrew Language Committee established the term "מַקֵּשׁ" (makesh) as the official term for piano keys, and in 1952 the committee decided to replace it with "קְלִיד" (klid). Nevertheless, the term "מְנַעַנְעִים" continued to be used in musical circles even after the official determinations, and was only pushed out of the language during the second half of the 20th century. The linguist Yitzhak Avineri was upset about the abandonment of the term "מְנַעַנְעִים" and wrote in his column "The Language Corner" in "Al HaMishmar" in 1958: "There was a revival of the old, which is the greatest and most fundamental of the virtues of language development. For about fifty years we used mena'ane'im, and there was no pianist who suffered from it or complained about it. Until 'language scholars' came and did the opposite, that is - seeking to kill the revived and push it away in favor of klid."