v. Harp
Psa 33:2 hail .. sing to him with sy decacordio
Psalm 57:8; 108:2
Psalter (aram. pesanterîn; LXX psaltesrion). The Aramaic term is a foreign word taken from the Greek, and designates a triangular stringed instrument, similar to the harp or the lyre, with a resonance box above the strings (Dan 3:5, 7, 10, 15). Cuneiform documents from the time of Nebuchadnezzar show that Greek-speaking Ionians and Lydians were among the many foreigners employed on building projects in 1041 Babylon. These craftsmen would have introduced certain previously unknown musical instruments there. It would only be natural that, with their acceptance, the retention of their Greek names was also implied. This would explain the use of a Greek name for a certain musical instrument in Babylon in the 6th century BC See Harp; Decachord; Lira.
Source: Evangelical Bible Dictionary
Greek psalterion, from the verb psallo, to press. Name of the instrument with which sacred songs, psalms, and profane songs were accompanied in social festivals. It is the translation of the Hebrew term nebel, which designates a string instrument, whose exact form is unknown, Sal 33 (32), 2; 57(56), 9; 144 (143), 9. It is believed to have been a kind of triangular wooden harp, or a lute similar to the Egyptian nefer or the Persian and Arabic santir. In Aramaic there is also the word psanterin, which designates one of the instruments that were played in the court of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Dn 3, 5/7/10/15. With this name of S. is also designated the book of Psalms.
Digital Bible Dictionary, Grupo C Service & Design Ltda., Colombia, 2003
Source: Digital Bible Dictionary
See “Psalms.”
Christian Bible Dictionary
Dr. J. Dominguez
http://bible.com/dictionary/
Source: Christian Bible Dictionary
†¢Music and musical instruments.
Source: Christian Bible Dictionary
type, MUSI
see, MUSIC
vet, (Heb. “nebel”; Gr. “psalterion”, designates a lyre; Is. 5:12; 14:11; Am. 5:23; 6:5). In gr., the term “nebel” came to be “nabla”. In the LXX the transliteration “nabla” is ordinarily found (1 Sam. 10:5; 2 Sam. 6:5; 1 Chron. 13:8; 15:16, 20). The body of this instrument, which was originally made of wood (2 Sam. 6:5; 2 Chron. 9:11), was later made of metal (Ant. 8:3, 8). The number of strings is unknown; they were gut; ten strings are mentioned for a particular type of psalter (the decachord; Ps. 33:2; 92:4). It accompanied the soprano voice (1 Chron. 15:20), and was portable (1 Sam. 10:5). Josephus says that the “kinnura” (Heb. “kinnõr”, lyre, harp) had ten strings, and was plucked with the plectrum, while the nabla had twelve notes and was plucked with the fingers (Ant. 7:12 , 3). According to Eusebio, the psalter received in Israel the name of nabla and had the resonance table above. Augustine of Hippo, commenting on Psalm 42, says that the psalter has the soundboard above the strings, unlike the zither, which has it below. Saul encountered a group of prophets playing the psalter (1 Sam. 10:5), an instrument that was also used when the ark was returned to Jerusalem (2 Sam. 6:5). When David organized the musical service of the sanctuary, he appointed certain Levites to play the psalter (1 Chron. 15:16, 20, 28; 16:5; 25:1, 6), thus perpetuating its use for public worship (2 Chronicles 5:12). It was also played at parties (Is. 5:12; Am. 6:5). This instrument frequently accompanied the harp (1 Sam. 10:5; 2 Sam. 6:5; 2 Chron. 9:11; Ps. 81:3; 108:3). (See MUSIC.)
Source: New Illustrated Bible Dictionary
The term refers to the set of biblical Psalms, the 150. And sometimes reference is also made to the own of each author of those that appear in the titles of the authors to which they are attributed: Psalter of David, Psalter of the sons of Korah, etc.
Reference is also made to various versions of the Psalms: the LXX Psalter, the Vulgate Psalter, the Gallican Psalter or the Roman Psalter.
The musical instrument was also called by this name. It is doubtful how it was locked, but it is known for sure that it was a trapezoidal sounding board where some strings allowed for pleasant and rhythmic harmonies to accompany the singing of the verses.
The Hebrew psalter probably had between 4 and 10 strings and they were of different sizes. It was placed horizontally in the small sizes; and vertical in the big ones. The Vulgate psalter alludes to what was called the “nebel” among the Jews, cited by Flavius Josephus as a twelve-stringed instrument similar to the lute or the guitar.
The Psalter of 150 Psalms, which has come down to us, seems to have been fixed since something before the Christian era. But the “other” psalms found in Qumram suggest that the number of 150, which for a long time was considered fixed (7 x 7 plus 1), should not have been so closed at the time of Christ.
Be that as it may, the musical aspect does not deserve excessive credit in terms of fixed conclusions, if we take into account how uses could have varied since David, a thousand years before Christ, until the Christian appearance.
Pedro Chico González, Dictionary of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy, Editorial Bruño, Lima, Peru 2006
Source: Dictionary of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy
The Psalter, or Book of Psalms, interests us here only insofar as it was transcribed and used for liturgical purposes. As a manual for private devotions, it has already been sufficiently discussed in the devotionals article. In its liturgical use the Psalter contained most of the Divine Office. The other books associated with it were the Lectionary, the Antiphonary, the Responsorial, and the Hymnal. The Psalter contained mainly all the texts of the Psalms, and it should be noted that for some centuries the Latin Church used two different Latin versions, both due to Saint Jerome. The first of these was a mere revision of the pre-existing Latin translation which was closely followed by the Septuagint Version. Saint Jerome undertook this revision in 383 at the request of Pope Saint Damasus I, and the text thus corrected was used in Rome for many centuries afterwards.
However, in 392 in Bethlehem the saint began the same task much more seriously with the help of the Hexapla. He produced what was almost a new version, and this, being circulated in Gaul, through a copy sent to Tours in the sixth century, became commonly known as the “Gallican Psalter”, and in the end completely supplanted the Roman. A precious manuscript in the Vatican (Regin. 11), of the sixth or seventh century, contains the “Gallican Psalter” on the left page, and a version made from the Hebrew on the right front page. The Psalter proper is followed here, as almost always in liturgical books, by the main canticles, that is, the Song of the Three Boys, the Song of Moses, etc. and, which is not a general feature although it is sometimes found, by a collection of hymns or “Hymnarium”. The latter were commonly written in a separate book. The oldest Psalter in the British Museum, which comes from St. Augustine of Canterbury, and was long supposed to be one of the books that St. Augustine brought to England, also contained the Canticles with two or three hymns.
In other similar books we find the Gloria, Credo, Quicumque vult, and the Litany of the Saints, at the beginning there is usually a calendar. Many of the oldest extant psalters, such as the “Golden Psalter” of St Gall and the “Utrecht Psalter”, both probably from the 9th century, are richly illuminated or illustrated—a fact that probably had much to do with their preservation. . A certain tradition tended to establish them at an earlier date with respect to the themes and position of these ornaments. In particular, the custom of dividing the Psalter into three parts of fifty psalms each spread widely. Hence the first Psalm, Psalm 51, and Psalm 101 were usually introduced by a full-page miniature or by a richly illuminated initial letter. So also in the penitential codices and in the monastic documents of England and Ireland during the Middle Ages, it is common to find allusions to the recitation of the “two fifties” or the “three fifties”, denoting two or three of the divisions of the Psalter.
As regards the Divine Office, the recitation of the Psalms was so organized in early times that the Psalter was recited in its entirety in the course of Sunday and the Ferial Office each week. In many psalteria there were marginal notes indicating which Psalms belonged to which day and hour. Less commonly the Psalms were arranged in numerical order, but, as in the modern Breviary, in the order of their occurrence in the fair office. Both kinds of books were called “psalteria feriata”. In medieval cathedral chapters it was common to assign two or three psalms to each prebend for daily recitation; the Psalms were arranged so that the bishop and canons went through the entire Psalter with them. Repetition of the entire Psalter was, as many obituaries and monastic documents show, a favorite form of suffrage for the dead.
Bibliography: BRAMBACH, Psalterium, Bibliographischer Versuch über die liturgischen Bücher des christ. Abendlander (Berlin, 1887); RAHN, Das “Psalterium Aureum” von Sanct Gallen (St. Gall, 1878); WORDSWORTH AND LITTLEHALES, The Old Service Books of the English Church (London, 1905); SWANSON in Dict. Christ. Antiq., s.v. Psalter; BEISSEL in Stimmen aus Maria-Laach (July, 1909), 28-41; GASQUET AND BISHOP, The Bosworth Psalter (London, 1908); BIRCH, The Utrecht Psalter (London, 1876); HARDY, Reports on the Utrecht Psalter (London, 1872-74).
Source: Thurston, Herbert. “Psalterium.” The Catholic Encyclopaedia. Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12543b.htm
Translated by Luz María Hernández Medina.
Selection of images: José Gálvez Krüger
Source: Commentary on the Psalms
Source: Catholic Encyclopedia