Etymologically
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psalmus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈpsaɫ.mʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈpsal.mus][1]

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

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