:''See Rotte (psaltery) for medieval harp psaltery &

Ancient Greek harps The psalterion (Greek ψαλτήριον) is a stringed, plucked instrument, an ancient Greek harp. Psalterion was a general word for harps in the latter part of the 4th century B.C. It meant "plucking instrument". In addition to their most imp ...

for earlier psalterion'' A psaltery () (or sawtry, an archaic form) is a fretboard-less box

zither Zither (; , from the Greek ''cithara'') is a class of stringed instruments. The modern instrument has many strings stretched across a thin, flat body. Zithers are typically played by strumming or plucking the strings with the fingers or a ...

(a simple

chordophone In musical instrument classification, string instruments, or chordophones, are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer strums, plucks, strikes or sounds the strings in varying manners. Musicians play some ...

) and is considered the archetype of the zither and

dulcimer The term dulcimer refers to two families of musical string instruments. Hammered dulcimers The word ''dulcimer'' originally referred to a trapezoidal zither similar to a psaltery whose many strings are struck by handheld "hammers". Variants of ...

. Plucked keyboard instruments such as the

harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...

were also inspired by it. Its resonance box is usually trapezoidal, rectangular or in the form of a "pig's head" and often richly decorated.

Etymology

The psaltery of

Ancient Greece Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically r ...

('' epigonion'') was a

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

-like stringed instrument. The word ''psaltery'' derives from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

ψαλτήριον (''psaltḗrion''), "stringed instrument, psaltery, harp" and that from the verb ψάλλω (''psállō''), "to touch sharply, to pluck, pull, twitch" and in the case of the strings of musical instruments, "to play a stringed instrument with the fingers, and not with the

plectrum A plectrum is a small flat tool used for plucking or strumming of a stringed instrument. For hand-held instruments such as guitars and mandolins, the plectrum is often called a pick and is held as a separate tool in the player's hand. In harpsic ...

." The psaltery was originally made from wood, and relied on natural acoustics for sound production. In the

King James Bible The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version (AV), is an Early Modern English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by ...

"psaltery", and its plural, "psalteries", are used to translate several words from the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Phoenician origin. The strings of the medieval instrument were usually made of metal, unlike the finger-plucked harp, strung with

catgut Catgut (also known as gut) is a type of cord that is prepared from the natural fiber found in the walls of animal intestines. Catgut makers usually use sheep or goat intestines, but occasionally use the intestines of cattle, hogs, horses, mules, ...

, and played using a

or “pick.” The harp is strung with a single string for each tone, open to be plucked from either side of the instrument; a psaltery may have multiple strings for each

tone Tone may refer to: Visual arts and color-related * Tone (color theory), a mix of tint and shade, in painting and color theory * Tone (color), the lightness or brightness (as well as darkness) of a color * Toning (coin), color change in coins * ...

, strung across a soundboard. The psaltery has been compared to the

and

, though some forms of the latter are not plucked, but struck with hammers.

Medieval and Renaissance psalteries

From the 12th through the 15th centuries, psalteries are widely seen in manuscripts, paintings and sculpture throughout Europe.Anon. (15th century).
Roi David jouant du psaltérion
. (Chambéry, Savoie, France: manuscrit 4, fol. 319 v., Bréviaire franciscain, initiale B, psaume 1, Beatus vir) Musiconis.huma-num.fr (archive from 17 November 2018, accessed 15 June 2020). Examples found in one reference book, the Groves New Encyclopedia of Musical Instruments, show examples in paintings from the 9th century

Carolingian Empire The Carolingian Empire (800–887) was a Franks, Frankish-dominated empire in Western and Central Europe during the Early Middle Ages. It was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty, which had ruled as List of Frankish kings, kings of the Franks since ...

Benedictine Psalter, in 13th century Spain (in the

Cantigas de Santa Maria The ''Cantigas de Santa Maria'' (, ; "Canticles of Holy Mary") are 420 poems with musical notation, written in the medieval Galician-Portuguese language during the reign of Alfonso X of Castile, Alfonso X of Castile ''El Sabio'' (1221–1284). T ...

), in Bohemia in the 14th century, in Italy in the 14th century, and Germany in the 15th century. Shapes included "triangular ( rotte), trapezoidal, semitrapezoidal, wing shaped, or harp shaped". The ''psalterion decacordum'' was shaped like a square and had ten strings strung vertically. Stings could run in courses, as viewed in the middle-ages artwork.

Modern psaltery

While psalteries had largely died out in Europe by the 19th century, the salterio remained common in Mexico well into the twentieth century and is still played in some regional styles. The

hammered dulcimer The hammered dulcimer (also called the hammer dulcimer) is a percussion-string instrument which consists of String (music), strings typically stretched over a trapezoidal resonant sound board (music), sound board. The hammered dulcimer is set bef ...

and related instruments, such as the santur,

cimbalom The cimbalom, cimbal (; ) or concert cimbalom is a type of chordophone composed of a large, trapezoidal box on legs with metal strings stretched across its top and a damping pedal underneath. It was designed and created by József Schunda, V. ...

, yangqin, and khim, appear very similar to psalteries, and it is often hard to tell which one historical images represent. They differ in that the player strikes the strings with small hammers rather than plucking them. As a result, they have much higher string tension and heavier frames. In the 19th century, several related zithers came into use, notably the guitar zither and the

autoharp An autoharp or chord zither is a string instrument belonging to the zither family. It uses a series of bars individually configured to mute all strings other than those needed for the intended chord. The term ''autoharp'' was once a trademark of t ...

. In the 20th century, the

bowed psaltery The bowed psaltery is a type of psaltery or zither that is played with a bow (music), bow. In contrast with the centuries-old plucked psaltery, the bowed psaltery appears to be a 20th-century invention. History Violin zither In 1925, a German p ...

came into wide use. It is set up in a triangular format so that the end portion of each string can be bowed.

Gallery

File:Walraversijde94.jpg, Psaltery in the shape called a "pig's head" psaltery, a very common psaltery shape in manuscripts. File:Gorleston Psalter psaltery player.png, Gorleston-on-Sea, England. Psaltery player from the

Gorleston Psalter The Gorleston Psalter (British Library Add MS 49622) is a 14th-century manuscript notable for containing early music instruction and for its humorous marginalia. It is named for the town of Gorleston in Norfolk. Description The Gorleston P ...

, c. 1310–1326. File:AlaBohemicaPsaltery.jpg, (Kingdom of Bohemia, 14th century). Picture of an unusual type of psaltery, found in Central Europe. Labeled "Bohemian wing" psaltery in Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. File:18th century psaltery.jpg, 18th century Spanish psaltery. Trapezoidal psaltery. File:Benedictine Psalter - King playing a psalter.jpg, Carolingian Empire. Page from the Benedictine Psalter (842-850). David playing a four-sided psaltery, ''psalterium quadratum'' or ''psalterium decochordum''. File:Musician with psaltery from the Psalterium cum Canticis ('Werdener Psalter') Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Ms. theol. lat. fol. 561.jpg, 1020-1050, Germany. Musician with psaltery from Werdener Psalter. File:María3.jpg, Spain. Three shapes of psalteries (bottom row) from the Cantigas de Santa Maria, Códice Rico. File:Hans Memling - Christ with Singing and Music-Making Angels - Psaltery player.jpg, Germany, 15th century. Angel playing a pig's head psaltery. File:La-Chaise-Dieu JPG0 (1).JPG, France File:Elder of the Apocalyps MET medcast603.jpg, France. 1145-1155. '' Elder of the Apocalypse'' File:Bayeux (14) Cathédrale Crypte Ange musicien 11.JPG, France, Notre Dame Cathedral File:CatedralDeBurgosP1130665.jpg, Spain. Burgos Cathedral. File:Cancioneiro da Ajuda, folio 59, musicians with psaltery and clappers.jpg, Spain, 13th century. Cancioneiro da Ajuda, folio 59, musicians with psaltery and clappers File:Cappella Palatina-ceiling-ISL15002.jpg, Triangular psaltery, Palatine Chapel, ca. 1140 A.D. File:Woman playing psaltery, Tobias Stimmer.jpg, Woman playing psaltery, circa 1570 A.D. File:Psaltery notes, Museum Musicum Theoretico-Practicum page 72.jpg, Psaltery notes, Museum musicum theoreticalo practicum page 72 File:Cantigas de Santa Maria, Musician's Codex, page Bl-2 062V.jpg, 1280 A.D. Rotte. Cantigas de Santa Maria File:Cantigas de Santa Maria, Musician's Codex, page Bl-2 096V.jpg, 1280 A.D. Cantigas de Santa Maria File:Cantigas de Santa Maria, Musician's Codex, page Bl-2 089R.jpg, 1280 A.D. Cantigas de Santa Maria. File:Cantigas de Santa Maria, Musician's Codex, page Bl-2 071V.jpg, 1280 A.D. Cantigas de Santa Maria. File:David MET DT1498.jpg, Circa 1408-1410, Italy.

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

playing a psaltery, painting by Lorenzo Monaco.

Notes

References

External links

Psaltery

Discussion of psalteries, with image
from the exhibition

by the ttp://www.civilization.ca/ Canadian Museum of Civilisation {{Authority control Ancient Greek musical instruments Ancient Hebrew musical instruments Box zithers Czech musical instruments Greek musical instruments Slovenian musical instruments