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A psaltery is a stringed musical instrument
Musical instrument

A musical instrument is an object constructed or used for the purpose of making music. In principle, anything that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument....
 of the harp
Harp

The 'harp' is a stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicular to the Sounding board. It is also considered to be a percussion instrument....
 or the zither
Zither

The zither is a musical string instrument, most commonly found in Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, the southern regions of Germany, alpine Europe and East Asian cultures....
 family. The of Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece

The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
 (Epigonion) dates from at least 2800 BC, when it was a harp-like instrument.






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Alabohemicapsaltery
A psaltery is a stringed musical instrument
Musical instrument

A musical instrument is an object constructed or used for the purpose of making music. In principle, anything that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument....
 of the harp
Harp

The 'harp' is a stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicular to the Sounding board. It is also considered to be a percussion instrument....
 or the zither
Zither

The zither is a musical string instrument, most commonly found in Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, the southern regions of Germany, alpine Europe and East Asian cultures....
 family. The of Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece

The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
 (Epigonion) dates from at least 2800 BC, when it was a harp-like instrument. Etymologically the word derives from the Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning across the Archaic Greece , Classical Greece , and Hellenistic civilization periods of ancient Greece and the classical antiquity....
 ?a?t????? (psalterion) “stringed instrument, psaltery, harp” and that from the verb ????? (psallo) “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 plectron”.

In the King James Version of the Bible
Bible

The Bible is the central religious text of Judaism and Christianity. The exact Books of the Bible is dependent on the religious traditions of specific denominations....
, "psaltery", and its plural, "psalteries", is used to translate the Hebrew keliy in Psalm 71:22 and I Chronicles 16:5; nevel in I Samuel 10:5; 2 Samuel 6:5; I Kings 10:12; I Chronicles 13:8; 15:16, 20, 28; 25:1, 6; II Chronicles 5:12; 9:11; 20:28; 29:25; Nehemiah 12:27; Psalms 33:2; 57:6; 81:2; 92:3; 108:2; 144:9; and 150:3; and pesanterin (???????) in Daniel 3:5, 7, 10, and 15.

In the Christian era a psaltery consisting of a soundboard with several pre-tuned strings that are usually plucked, came into use. It was also known by the name canon from the Greek word ?a???, "kanon" which means rule, principle and also "mode". The modern Greek folk instrument is called by its diminutive
Diminutive

In language structure, a diminutive, or diminutive form, is a formation of a word used to convey a slight degree of the root meaning, smallness of the object or quality named, encapsulation, intimacy, or endearment....
, kanonaki. The instrument is usually small enough to be portable; its shape and range vary. It is depicted in a number of artworks from the Medieval Period
Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
.

In the 19th Century several forms came into use, notably the guitar zither
Guitar zither

The guitar zither is a musical instrument consisting of a soundbox, with two sets of unstopped strings. One set of strings is tuned to the diatonic scale and the other set is tuned to make the various chords in the key of the diatonic strings....
 and the Autoharp
Autoharp

The Autoharp is a registered trademark for a musical stringed instrument having a series of chord bars attached to dampers which, when depressed, mute all the strings other than those that form the desired chord ....
.

In the 20th century, the bowed psaltery
Bowed psaltery

A bowed psaltery is a psaltery that is played with a bow ....
 has come into wide use. It is set up in a triangular
Triangle

A triangle is one of the basic shapes of geometry: a polygon with three corners or wikt:vertex and three sides or edges which are line segments....
 format so that the end portion of each string can be bow
Bow (music)

In music, a bow is moved across some part of a musical instrument, causing vibration which the instrument emits as sound. The vast majority of bows are used with string instruments, although some bows are used with musical saws and other bowed idiophones....
ed.

See also

  • Nevel (instrument)
    Nevel (instrument)

    The nevel was a stringed instrument in use by the ancient Hebrew people. The Greeks referred to it as the Nabla symbol . Much conjecture has been put forth on its exact nature, but it was probably not a standardized instrument....
  • Psalterium (instrument)
    Psalterium (instrument)

    Psalterium or tambourin a chordes is a stringed musical instrument, and means the same thing as psaltery. In specific usage, this name denotes a form of long psaltery that is tuned to provide drone chords....
  • Zither
    Zither

    The zither is a musical string instrument, most commonly found in Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, the southern regions of Germany, alpine Europe and East Asian cultures....
  • Gusli
    Gusli

    Gusli }} is the oldest Russian multi-string plucked Psaltery instrument of the Zither family. Its exact history is unknown, but it may have derived from a Byzantium form of the Cithara, which in turn derived from the ancient lyre....


External links

  • from the exhibition by the