psalm

Pronunciation

• IPA: /sɑːm/ (UK); /sɑm/, /sɑlm/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English psalme, salme,^[2][3] inherited from Old English psalm, sealm, salm,^{[4][2][5][6][7]} an early borrowing of Late Latin psalmus,^{[4][2][5][6][7]} reinforced in Middle English by Old French psaume, saume,^[5][7] from Ancient Greek ψαλμός (psalmós, “song sung to the harp; a plucking of strings”),^{[4][2][5][6][7]} from psállein “to pluck, play a stringed instrument”.^{[4][2][5][6][7]}

Earliest recorded meaning

Any sacred song sung in religious worship; a hymn (c. 825, as sealm).^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

In the Septuagint psalmós rendered Hebrew mizmōr “song”, especially the songs sung by David to the harp and collected in the Book of Psalms.^[5] English used the Psalms for that book from c. 950.^[3] After some hesitation the learned ps- spelling prevailed, as in German and French,^[5][2] but English is almost alone in not pronouncing the p.^[2][5] The l was also often lost in Middle English and Old French.^[2] The verb, to sing or celebrate in psalms, dates from c. 1000,^[3] and psalmist from 1483.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 825 – Old English sealm, a sacred song.^[3]
• c. 950 – the Psalms, the Book of Psalms.^[3]
• c. 1000 – verb, to celebrate in psalms.^[3]
• c. 1290 – saume, from Old French.^[3]
• 1483 – psalmist.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A sacred song or poem used in worship; a hymn.
2. Psalm: any of the 150 hymns of the Old Testament Book of Psalms, or a metrical version of one.

Verb

1. To sing of or celebrate in psalms.

Word family

• psalmic
• psalmbook
• psalmist
• psalmody

Related words

• psalter
• psaltery
• Psalms

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press