S E M 



S E M 



SEMENDEllY, a town on the S. coaft of the ifland of 

 Java. S. lat. 7° l'. E. long. 106° 50'. 



SEMENDRIA, a town and fortrefs of Servia, on the 

 S. fide of the Danube ; 20 miles S.E- of J3elgrade. N". 

 lat. 44° 52'. E. long. 20° 41'. 



SEMENGE, in Mufc, an inftrument ufed in Arabia by 

 thofe wandering muficians who accompany the dancing 

 women. It is a fort of bad violin, joined with a drum. 

 The body is commonly a cocoa-nut fhell, with a piece of 

 fl<in extended upon it ; three livings of catgut, and fome- 

 times of horfehair, are fitted to it ; and it is played with a 

 bow, not lefs awkward in its form than the Greek lyre. 



SEMENGIAN, in Geography, a town of Perfia, in the 

 province of Segeftan ; 132 miles S. of Kin. 



SEMENJAN, a town of Grand Bucharia ; 70 miles 

 W. of Anderab. N. lat. 36° 22'. E. long. 66" 50'. 



SEMENNUD, a town of Egypt, on the E. branch of 

 the Nile ; 8 miles S.S.W. of Manfora. 



SEMENOV, a town of Ruffia, in the government of 

 Niznei-Novgorod ; 36 miles N. of Niznei-Novgorod. N. 

 lat. 55° 30'. E. long. 44° 14'. 



SEMENOVSKOI, a town of Ruflia, in the govern- 

 ment of Vologda ; 44 miles N.N.W. of Vologda. 



SEMENTINiE Ferine, in Antiquily, featls held an- 

 nually among the Romans, to obtain of the gods a plentiful 

 harvell. 



They were celebrated in the temple of Tcllus, or the 

 Earth, where folemn facrilices were offered to Tellus and 

 Ceres. 



The time of the celebration was about feed-time, ufually 

 in the month of January ; for Macrobius obfervcs, they 

 were moveable fealls. They had their name from femen, 

 feed. 



SEMERON, in Ancient Geography, a royal town of 

 Judsa, in the tribe of Zcbulon, according to the book of 

 Jofhua, whither, it is faid, Jabin fent a meffenger to de- 

 mand fuccour of the king of the city, and which he accord- 

 ingly obtained, together with that of feveral other kingfs, to 

 attack the Ifraelites ; but they were all defeated and (lain in 

 the combat. — Alfo, a mountain of Judaea, in the tribe of 

 Ephraim, E. of Sichem ; called alfo the mountain of Sa- 

 maria. 



SEMETS, SuMMETS, or Summits, in Botany, are ufed 

 by Dr. Grew and others, for the apices of the attii-e of 

 plants. 



SEMI, a word borrowed from the Latin, fignifying half ; 

 but only ufed in compofition with other words, as in the 

 following articles. 



The French, inftead of femi, frequently ufe demi, the 

 Greeks hemi. 



In mufic, femi has tlu-ee feveral ufages ; firft, when pre- 

 fixed to the name of a note, it exprefl'es a diminution of half 

 its value, as in femi-breve, &c. 



Secondly, when added to the name of an interval, it ex- 

 prelles a diminution, not of half, but of a leffer femi-tone, 

 or four commas, in the whole compafs, as in fcmi-diapente, 

 &c. 



Thirdly, in old mufic to the end of the i6th century, it 

 implies imperfeftion in the value of notes, as a femi-circle, 

 or circolo mezzo ; the whole circle then implying perfeftion, 

 or triple-time. O three breves, or three times three femi- 



breves, without a point. I common time, or, as it was 



then called, imperfeft, or dual meafure. See Mufical 

 Characters, and the firlt TiME-Tai/e. 



SEMI-ARIANS, in Ecclefiq/lical Hijlory, a branch of 

 the ancient Arians, confifting, according to Epiphanius, of 



4 



fuch as, in appearance, condemned the errors of that herefi. 

 arch, but yet acquiefced in fome of his principles, only pal- 

 liating and hiding them under fofter and more moderate 

 terms. See Arians. 



It is true, they feparated from the Arian faftion ; but 

 yet could never be brought to acknowledge that the Son was 

 homooufios, that is, confubttantial, or of the fame fub- 

 ftance with the Father ; they would only allow him to be 

 homoioufios, that is, of a like fubftance with the Father, 

 or fimilar to the Father in his efience, not by nature, but 

 by a pecuHar privilege. See Ho.Moousios, &c. 



Though, as to expreflion, they only diflered from the or. 

 thodox by a fingle letter, yet were they, in effeft, of the opi- 

 nion of the Arians, as they placed the Son in the rank of 

 creatures. It did not avail their teaching, that there was 

 no other creature of the fame clafs with him, fince by deny- 

 ing him confubftantial with God, they effectually precluded 

 him from being truly God. 



Yet fome, even among tlie orthodox, ufe the word homoi- 

 oufios, in fpeaking of the Son ; applying fuch an idea to it 

 as it feems is confiftent with orthodoxy. 



But the name Semi-Arians is alfo given, by the fecond ge- 

 neral council, to another branch of Arians, who believed 

 orthodoxly of the Father and Son, but denied the deity of 

 the Holy Ghoft ; thus rejefting that part of the Arian 

 fyltem relating to the Son, but ftiffly retaining that which 

 related to the Holy Ghoft. 



As the zeal of the Arians was chiefly levelled againft the 

 fecond perfon in the Trinity, that of the Semi-Arians was 

 bent againft the third ; whence, as the former were fome- 

 times called Xfis-o/ja;^^, the latter were denominated ITvEiiiia- 



Macedonius, bifhop of Conftantinople, made an innova- 

 tion in this feft in 360, and gave rife to a new branch of 

 Macedonian Semi-Arians, or Pneuraatomachi ; who allowed 

 the Son not to be o^uoiic-;-;, of the fame fubftance, but cjj.'ho:, 

 of /He fubftance with the Father ; and at the fame time 

 openly affcrted the Holy Ghoft to be a creature. This 

 herefy was condemned by the eleventh general council held 

 at Conftantinople in the year 381. See Macedoniaks. 



SEMIBREVE, O -e-, half a breve g, in M>ific. 



See the TiHE-Tab/es. 



SEMICIRCLE, in Geometry, a figure comprehended 

 between the diameter of a circle, and half the circumference. 



Two femicircles can only cut each other in one point. 



Semicircle is alfo an inftrument in Surveying, fome- 

 timcs called the graphometer. 



It confifts of a femicircular limb, as F, I, G, {Plate VII. 

 Surveying, Jig. ■^.) divided into one hundred and eighty de- 

 grees, and fometimes fubdivided diagonally or otherwife 

 into minutes. This limb is fubtended by a diameter F G, 

 at the extremities of which are eredted two fights. In the 

 centre of the femicircle, or the middle of the diameter, is 

 fixed a box and needle. On the fame centre is fitted an 

 alidade, or moveable index, carrying two other fights, as 

 H, I. And the whole is m.ounted on a llaff, with a ball and 

 focket. 



The femicircle, then, is nothing elfe but half a theo- 

 dolite ; with this only difference, that whereas the limb of 

 the theodolite, being an entire circle, takes in all the 360° 

 fucceffively ; in the femicircle the degrees only going from 

 I to 180, it is ufual to have the remaining 180°, or thofe 

 from 1 80° to 360°, graduated in another line on the limb 

 within the former. 



To take an Angle with a Semicircle. Place the inftrument 

 in fuch manner, as that the radius C G may hang over one 



leg 



