Psaltry

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A historical stringed instrument characterized by a flat body and strings that produce sound when plucked or strummed
2. This instrument, often linked to ancient music, has a rectangular shape and varies in size, offering melodious tunes through its strings
3. An old musical instrument with a flat soundboard and multiple strings played by plucking

Etymology: In ancient Greece, "psaltērion" named a plucked stringed instrument, and the verb "psallein" meant to pluck or twang strings. The Greek Old Testament translators used the noun for the Hebrew "nevel," a harp-like instrument, so the same Greek name came to be linked with the Psalms, the songs sung to string accompaniment. English received the word through Latin "psalterium" and Old French "psalterion." The Latin form kept the sacred sense, which English preserved in "psalter" for the book of Psalms. The musical sense came in from French, so one Greek word ended up naming both the book and the instrument.