Kinnor ( ''kīnnōr'') is an ancient Israelite musical instrument in the yoke lutes family, the first one to be mentioned in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' and associated with a type of

lyre The lyre () (from Greek λύρα and Latin ''lyra)'' is a string instrument, stringed musical instrument that is classified by Hornbostel–Sachs as a member of the History of lute-family instruments, lute family of instruments. In organology, a ...

depicted in Israelite imagery, particularly the

Bar Kokhba Simon bar Kokhba ( ) or Simon bar Koseba ( ), commonly referred to simply as Bar Kokhba, was a Jewish military leader in Judaea (Roman province), Judea. He lent his name to the Bar Kokhba revolt, which he initiated against the Roman Empire in 1 ...

coins. It has been referred to as the "national instrument" of the Jewish people, and modern

luthier A luthier ( ; ) is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments. Etymology The word ' is originally French and comes from ''luth'', the French word for "lute". The term was originally used for makers of lutes, but it came to be ...

s have created reproduction lyres of the kinnor based on this imagery. The word has subsequently come to mean

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

Modern Hebrew Modern Hebrew (, or ), also known as Israeli Hebrew or simply Hebrew, is the Standard language, standard form of the Hebrew language spoken today. It is the only surviving Canaanite language, as well as one of the List of languages by first w ...

Identification

The kinnor is generally agreed to be a stringed instrument, and thus the stringed instrument most commonly mentioned in the

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

. The kinnor is also the first string instrument to be mentioned in the Bible, appearing in Genesis 4:21.

Details

Construction

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

describes the kinnor as having 10 strings, made from a sheep's small intestine, and played with a plectrum (pick), though the Book of Samuel notes that David played the kinnor "with his hand". The '' International Standard Bible Encyclopedia'' also notes that the early church fathers agreed the

kithara The kithara (), Latinized as cithara, was an ancient Greek musical instrument in the yoke lutes family. It was a seven-stringed professional version of the lyre, which was regarded as a rustic, or folk instrument, appropriate for teaching mu ...

(kinnor) had its resonator in the lower parts of its body. Like the nevel, the kinnor likely consisted of a soundboard with two arms extending parallel to the body, with the arms crossed by a yoke from which the strings extend down to the body. One etymology of ''Kinneret'', the Hebrew name of the

Sea of Galilee The Sea of Galilee (, Judeo-Aramaic languages, Judeo-Aramaic: יַמּא דטבריא, גִּנֵּיסַר, ), also called Lake Tiberias, Genezareth Lake or Kinneret, is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth ...

, is that it derives from ''kinnor'', on account of the shape of the lake resembling that of the instrument. If this etymology is correct it may be relevant to the question of the shape of the instrument.

Usage

King David as Orpheus in a synagogue mosaic - Google Art Project

The kinnor is mentioned 42 times in the Old Testament, in relation to "divine worship... prophecy... secular festivals... and prostitution." The kinnor is sometimes mentioned in conjunction with the nevel, which is also presumed to be a lyre but larger and louder than the kinnor. The

Mishna The Mishnah or the Mishna (; , from the verb ''šānā'', "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. Having been collected in the 3rd century CE, it is ...

states that the minimum number of kinnor to be played in the Temple is nine, with no maximum limit.

Use of the word in Modern Hebrew

The word כינור ''kinór'' is used in

to signify the modern

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

.Jeremy Montagu, ''Musical Instruments of the Bible'', Scarecrow Press, 2002, p. 12

References

External links

*Bo Lawergren,
Distinctions among Canaanite, Philistine, and Israelite Lyres, and Their Global Lyrical Contexts
" ''Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research'', No. 309 (Feb., 1998), pp. 41–68. * {{Authority control Lyres Early musical instruments Israeli musical instruments Ancient Hebrew musical instruments Sacred musical instruments