Changing MySQL password for phpMyAdmin

[Macamba .]

Today I tried to login into my phpMyAdmin. I got the message that my password was wrong. I entered the database using the dos console, and logged in with:

mysql -u root -p myDatabase
Enter password: *********

Next I entered a new password:

mysql> set password for 'root'@'localhost' = PASSWORD('my!newpass;');

That resulted in:

ERROR 1064 (42000): You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near '');

Now I am wondering:
Is the semicolon a difficult character for MySQL, should I escape it, and if so, how?