psalmus

Forms

psalmus m (genitive psalmī); second declension^[1] The spelling salmus occurs in an inscription of 373 AD and in manuscripts.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ψαλμός (psalmós, “plucking of strings; song sung to the harp”),^[1][3][2] from ψάλλω (psállō, “to pluck (a string)”).^[1][3] Cassiodorus already noted its Greek origin, while Pseudo-Origen and Eucherius derived it from psalterium.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it in Scripture and in Christian writers from Tertullian (c. 160–220 AD)^[3] on,^[2] meaning a psalm.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The Old Latin Bible also used it for the music of stringed instruments and for the instrument itself, the psaltery;^[2] Hilary distinguishes a psalmus, played on an instrument, from a canticum, which is sung.^[2] Lactantius and the Vulgate use it for a sacred song, especially the Psalms of David.^[4]

In Medieval Latin it was a liturgical word: monastic rules and customaries name the seven penitential psalms, the gradual psalms and other groups said in the office.^[5] English psalm goes back to Old English psealm, partly from Old French and partly from this Church Latin word.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it for a psalm.^[2][4][3]
• c. 250–317 AD – Lactantius uses it.^[4][3]
• 373 AD – An inscription spells it salmus.^[2]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of the Psalms of David.^[4][3]
• c. 801 – Alcuin writes of the seven penitential psalms.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin) The playing of a stringed instrument; the instrument itself, the psaltery.^[2]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A psalm, a sacred song, especially one of the Psalms of David.^[4][2][7][8]
3. (Medieval Latin) A psalm as part of the liturgy, such as the penitential psalms.^[5]

Word family

• psalmicen
• psalmista

Related words

• English psalm

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
6. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill