Cornet

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

A horn trumpet used for war, for signals, for proclaiming the Jubilee and new year. The Shophar was long and straight; the Qeren (Daniel 3) crooked. Shophar is generally translated "trumpet," Qeren "cornet" (Daniel 3). God appointed the making of two silver trumpets. They were 120 in Solomon's time ( 2 Chronicles 5:12), and were employed for other purposes besides those originally contemplated, namely, in the temple orchestra. The first day of the seventh month was "the memorial of blowing of trumpets" ( Leviticus 23:24;  Numbers 29:1).

The beginning of the civil new year was thus ushered in with joyful thanksgivings for the mercies of the old year, the Levites chanting Psalm 81. This usage, however, cannot be proved so early as Moses' time, when the beginning of the (religious) year was fixed at the spring equinox, the period of the institution of the Passover, the month Abib ( Exodus 12:2). The rabbis represent the seventh month as the anniversary of creation. The first day "memorial of blowing of trumpets" preluded the tenth day yearly great "atonement."

Webster's Dictionary

(1): (n.) The lowest grade of commissioned officer in a British cavalry troop, who carried the standard. The office was abolished in 1871.

(2): (n.) The standard of such a troop.

(3): (n.) See Coronet, 2.

(4): (n.) A cap of paper twisted at the end, used by retailers to inclose small wares.

(5): (n.) A brass instrument, with cupped mouthpiece, and furnished with valves or pistons, now used in bands, and, in place of the trumpet, in orchestras. See Cornet-a-piston.

(6): (n.) An obsolete rude reed instrument (Ger. Zinken), of the oboe family.

(7): (n.) A square cap anciently worn as a mark of certain professions.

(8): (n.) A troop of cavalry; - so called from its being accompanied by a cornet player.

(9): (n.) A headdress

(10): (n.) A certain organ stop or register.

(11): (n.) A part of a woman's headdress, in the 16th century.

King James Dictionary

Cornet n. L., a horn. See Horn.

1. An instrument of music, in the nature of a trumpet, sounded by blowing with the mouth. It was of a winding shape like a horn used in armies and on occasions of joy.

David played before the Lord on cornets.  2 Samuel 6 .

2. In modern usage, an officer of cavalry, who bears the ensign or colors of a troop. He is the third officer in the company. 3. A company of cavalry a troop of horse. Not used. 4. The cornet of a horse coronet is the lowest part of his pastern, that runs round the coffin and is distinguished by the hair that joins and covers the upper part of the hoof. 5. A little cap of paper in which retailers inclose small wares. 6. A scarf anciently worn by doctors. 7. A head dress.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

In  Daniel 3:5-15 the word is qeren and signifies 'horn or cornet.' In  2 Samuel 6:5 the word is manaanim, and signifies an instrument that makes a tinkling sound on being shaken, as a 'sistrum.' In the four other places the word is shophar, which is often translated 'trumpet.'  1 Chronicles 15:28;  2 Chronicles 15:14;  Psalm 98:6;  Hosea 5:8 .

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Cornet (Heb. Shôphâr ). A loud-sounding instrument, made of the horn of a ram or of a chamois (sometimes of an ox), and used by the ancient Hebrews for signals,  Leviticus 26:9, R. V. "trumpet," and much used by the priests.  1 Chronicles 15:28.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Cornet. (Hebrew, shophar ). A loud-sounding instrument, made of the horn of a ram or a chamois (sometimes of an ox), and used by the ancient Hebrews for signals,  Leviticus 25:9, and much used by the priests.  1 Chronicles 15:28.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 1 Chronicles 15:28 2 Chronicles 15:14 Psalm 98:6 Hosea 5:8 Daniel 3:5,7,10,15 2 Samuel 6:5

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

A wind instrument of music, of a curved form,  1 Chronicles 15:28   Daniel 3:5,7 . See Music .

Holman Bible Dictionary

Instruments DancingMusic

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

CORNET . See Music and Musical Instruments.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

properly שׁוֹפָר , Shophar' (prob. from שָׁפִר , to be bright, with reference to the clearness of sound; comp. שָׁפְרָה ,  Psalms 16:6), Gr. Σάλπιγξ , Lat. Buccina , a loud-sounding instrument, made of the horn of a ram or of a chamois (sometimes of an ox), and used by the ancient Hebrews for signals, for announcing the יוֹבֵל , "jubilee" ( Leviticus 25:9), for proclaiming the new year (Mishna, Rosh Hashanah , 3 and 4), for the purpose of war ( Jeremiah 4:5;  Jeremiah 4:19; comp.  Job 39:25), as well as for the sentinels placed at the watch-towers to give notice of the approach of an enemy ( Ezekiel 33:4-5). Shophar is generally rendered in the A.V. "trumpet," but "cornet" is used in  1 Chronicles 15:28;  2 Chronicles 15:14;  Psalms 98:6;  Hosea 5:8. "Cornet" is also employed in  2 Samuel 6:5, for מְנִעִנְעַים , Menaanim , Sistra , a musical instrument or rattle, which gave a tinkling sound on being shaken (used in Egypt in the worship of Isis; see Wilkinson, 2:323 sq.). Finally, in  Daniel 3:5;  Daniel 3:7;  Daniel 3:10;  Daniel 3:15, for the Chald. (and Heb.) term קֶרֶן , Ke'Ren , a Horn (as elsewhere rendered) or simple tube.

Oriental scholars for the most part consider the shophar and the keren to be one and the same musical instrument; but some Biblical critics regard the shophar and the חֲצוֹצְרָה , Chatsotserah (invariably rendered "trumpet" in the A.V.), as belonging to the species of the Keren , the general term for a horn (Joel Brill, in preface to Mendelssohn's version of the Psalms). Jahn distinguishes Keren , the horn or crooked trumpet," from Chatsotserah , the straight trumpet, an instrument a cubit in length, hollow throughout, and at the larger extremity so shaped as to resemble the mouth of a short bill" (Archaolog. 95, 4, 5); but the generally received opinion is, that keren designates the crooked horn, and shophar the long and straight one. The cornet properly denotes a shrill wind military instrument of wood, now mostly superseded by the oboe. It was blown with a mouth-piece, and varied in size and tone (Mersenne's Harmonie Universelle). The sounds emitted from the cornet in modern times are exceedingly harsh, although they produce a solemn effect. (See Music).

"The silver trumpets ( חֲצוֹצְרוֹת כֶּסֶ Š ) which Moses was charged to furnish for the Israelites were to be used for the following purposes: for the calling together of the assembly, for the jdurneying of the camps, for sounding the alarm of war, and for celebrating the sacrifices on festivals and new moons ( Numbers 10:1-10). The divine command through Moses was restricted to two trumpets only, and these were to be sounded by the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests of the sanctuary, and not by laymen. It would seem, however, that at a later period an impression prevailed that ‘ while the trumpets were suffered to be sounded only by the priests within the sanctuary, they might be used by others, not of the priesthood, without the sacred edifice' (Conrad Iken's Antiquitates Hebraicae , par. 1, sec. 7, ‘ Sacerdotum cum instrumentis ipsorum'). In the age of Solomon the ‘ silver trumpets' were increased in number to 120 ( 2 Chronicles 5:12); and, independently of the objects for which they had been first introduced, they were now employed in the orchestra of the Temple as an accompaniment to songs of thanksgiving and praise.

"Yobel', יוֹבֵל , used sometimes for the ‘ year of Jubilee' ( שְׁנִת הִיּוֹבֵל ; comp.  Leviticus 25:13;  Leviticus 25:15, with  Leviticus 25:28;  Leviticus 25:30), generally denotes the institution of Jubilee; but in some instances it is spoken of as a musical instrument, resembling in its object, if not in its shape, the keren and the shophar. Gesenius pronounces yobel to be ‘ an onomato-poetic word, signifying jubilum or a joyful sound, and hence applied to the sound of a trumpet signal, like, תְּרוּעָה ' ( ‘ alarm,'  Numbers 10:5); and Dr. Munk is of opinion that ‘ the word YOBEL is only an epithet' (Palestine, p. 456 a, note). Still it is difficult to divest yobel of the meaning of a sounding instrument in the following instances: ‘ When the trumpet ( הִיּוֹבֵל ) soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount' ( Exodus 19:13); ‘ And it shall come to pass that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn' ( בְּקֶרֶן הִיּוֹבֵל ,  Joshua 6:5); ‘ And let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams' horns' ( יוֹבְלַים שׁוֹפְרוֹת ,  Joshua 6:6). (See Jubilee).

"The sounding of the cornet ( תְּקַיעִת שְׁוֹפָר ) was the distinguishing ritual feature of the festival appointed by Moses to be held on the first day of the seventh month, under the denomination of a day of blowing trumpets' ( יוֹם תְּרוּעָה ,  Numbers 29:1), or ‘ a memorial of blowing of trumpets' ( זַכְרוֹן תְּרוּעָה ,  Leviticus 23:24); and that rite is still observed by the Jews in their celebration of the same festival, which they now call ‘ the day of memorial' ( יוֹם הִזַּכָּרוֹן ), and also ‘ New Year' ( רֹאשׁ הִשָּׁנָה ). ‘ Some commentators,' says Rosenm Ü ller, ‘ have made this festival refer to the preservation of Isaac (Genesis 22), whence it is sometimes called by the Jews ‘ the Binding of Isaac' ( עֲקֵדִת יַצְחָק ). But it is more probable that the name of the festival is derived from the usual kind of trumpets (ram's horns) then in use, and that the object of the festival was the celebration of the new year and the exhortation to thanksgivings for the blessings experienced in the year just finished. The use of cornets by the priests in all the cities of the land, not in Jerusalem only (where two silver trumpets were added, while the Levites chanted the 81st Psalm), was a suitable means for that object' (Morgenland, vol. 2, No. 337, on  Leviticus 23:24).

"Although the festival of the first day of the seventh month is denominated by the Mishna ‘ New Year,' and notwithstanding that it was observed as such by the Hebrews in the age of the second temple, there is no reason whatever to believe that it had such a name or character in the times of Moses. The Pentateuch fixes the vernal equinox (the period of the institution of the Passover) as the commencement of the Jewish year; but for more than twenty centuries the Jews have dated their new year from the autumnal equinox, which takes place about the season when the festival of ‘ the day of sounding the cornet' is held. Rabbinical tradition represents this festival as the anniversary of the creation of the world, but the statement receives no direct support from Scripture. On the contrary, Moses expressly declares that the month Abib (the moon of the spring) is to be regarded by the Hebrews as the first month of the year: ‘ This month shall be unto you the beginning ( ראשׁ ) of months; it shall be the first ( ראשׁ ) month of the year to you' ( Exodus 12:2) (Munk, Palestine , p. 184 b). (See Year).

"The intention of the appointment of the festival ‘ of the sounding of the cornet,' as well as the duties of the sacred institution, appear to be set forth in the words of the prophet, ‘ Sound the cornet ( שׁוֹפָר ) in Zion, sanctify the fast, proclaim the solemn assembly' ( Joel 2:15). Agreeably to the order in which this passage runs, the institution of ‘ the festival of sounding the cornet' seems to be the prelude and preparation for the awful day of atonement. The divine command for that fast is connected with that for ‘ the day of sounding the cornet' by the conjunctive particle אִךְ . ‘ Likewise on the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement' ( Leviticus 23:27). Here אִךְ (likewise) unites the festival ‘ of the day of sounding the cornet' with the solemnity of the day of atonement precisely as the same particle connects the ‘ festival of tabernacles' with the observance of the ceremonial of ‘ the fruit of the Hadar -tree, the palm branches,' etc. ( Leviticus 23:34-40). The word ‘ solemn assembly' ( עֲצָרָה ) in the verse from Joel quoted above applies to the festival ‘ eighth day of solemn assembly' ( שְׁמינַי עֲצֶרֶת ) ( Leviticus 23:36), the closing rite of the festive cycle of Tisri (see Marks, Religious Discourses , 1:291- 2).

"Besides the use of the cornet on the festival of ‘ blowing the trumpets,' it is also sounded in the synagogue at the close of the service for the day of atonement, and, among the Jews who adopt the ritual of the Sephardim, on the seventh day of the feast of tabernacles, known by the post-biblical denomination of ‘ the Great Hosannah' ( הוֹשִׁעְנָה רִבָּה ). (See Trumpet).