archicembalon.
/ˌɑːkɪˈtʃɛmbələʊ/, U.S. /ˌɑrkəˈtʃɛmbəˌloʊ/ Music.
Any of various types of harpsichord having more than twelve keys to the octave and therefore capable of producing intervals smaller than a semitone; a microtonal or enharmonic harpsichord.The first such instrument was designed by Nicolà Vicentino (1511–76), Italian musical theorist, in order to reproduce the intervals of the ancient Greek modes in their different genera, and to enable polyphonic music in imitation of these to be played on a keyboard instrument without introducing incorrect intervals.
ΚΠ
1776 J. Hawkins Gen. Hist. Music III. i. vi. 99 Gio. Battista Doni..treats his [sc. Vincentino's] invention of the Archicembalo with great contempt.
1888 Mag. of Art 6 300/1 The chief of these [sc. instruments of the harpsichord class] were the clavicembalo, the archicembalo, and the clavicordo.
1956 A. Huxley Adonis & Alphabet 265 The archicembalo required thirty-one keys to cover each octave.
1988 Music & Lett. 70 253 Bull's Hexachord Fantasia..is unplayable on an arcicembalo.
2007 M. Pilhofer & H. Day Music Theory for Dummies xxi. 264 On the archicembalo, each octave contained 36 keys, making it possible to play acoustically satisfactory intervals in every key.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, March 2019; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1776- sharp-nebbed
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