psalm

See also: Psalm

English

Etymology

From Middle English salm or psalme, from Old English psealm, later reinforced from Old French psalme (modern French psaume), both from Latin psalmus, from Ancient Greek ψαλμός (psalmós, “the sound emanating from twitching or twanging perhaps with the hands or fingers, mostly of musical strings”) (from ψάλλω (psállō, “to make a sound by striking, touching, plucking, rubbing, twanging, or vibrating”)), but later in New Testament times the meaning of ψαλμός (psalmós) evolved from its Classical meaning of "a tune played to the harp" to a more general tune that could be played with any instrument; even a song sung with or without musical accompaniment. By the Byzantine Period, it lost all of its instrumental nuances.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /sɑːm/
• (US) IPA^(key): /sɑm/, /sɑlm/, /sɔm/, /sɔlm/, (obsolete) /sæm/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːm, -ɑːlm, -ɔːlm

Noun

psalm (plural psalms)

1. (religion, music) A sacred song; a poetical composition for use in the praise or worship of God.
2. One of the hymns by David and others, collected into one book of the Old Testament, or a modern metrical version of such a hymn for public worship.

Derived terms

• psalmist
• psalmodic
• psalmody
• Psalms (name of the book of the Bible in which the psalms are collected)
• psalm-smiter

Related terms

• psalter

Translations

sacred song

• Afrikaans: psalm
• Albanian: psálm (sq) m, psálmi (sq) m
• Arabic: مَزْمُور m (mazmūr)
• Armenian: սաղմոս (hy) (saġmos)
• Aromanian: psálm (sq) m, psálmu (sq) m,
• Asturian: salmu (ast)
• Azerbaijani: məzmur
• Basque: salmo (eu)
• Belarusian: псало́м m (psalóm), пса́льма f (psálʹma)
• Breton: salm m
• Bulgarian: псало́м m (psalóm), псалм m (psalm)
• Catalan: salm (ca) m, psalm (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 詩篇／诗篇 (si¹ pin¹)

  Mandarin: 詩篇／诗篇 (zh) (shīpiān)

• Cornish: salm m
• Czech: žalm (cs) m
• Danish: salme c
• Dutch: psalm (nl) m
• Estonian: psalm
• Faroese: sálmur m
• Finnish: virsi (fi)
• French: psaume (fr) m
• Galician: salmo m
• Georgian: ფსალმუნი (psalmuni)
• German: Psalm (de) m
• Gothic: 𐍀𐍃𐌰𐌻𐌼𐍉 f (psalmō)
• Greek: ψαλμός (el) m (psalmós)
• Hebrew: מִזְמוֹר (he) m (mizmór)
• Hindi: भजन (hi) m (bhajan)
• Hungarian: zsoltár (hu)
• Icelandic: sálmur m
• Indonesian: mazmur (id)
• Ingrian: kirkkovers, jumalanlaulu
• Irish: salm m
• Italian: salmo (it) m
• Japanese: 詩篇 (ja) (しへん, shihen)
• Korean: 시편(詩篇) (ko) (sipyeon)
• Latin: psalmus m
• Latvian: psalms m
• Lithuanian: psalmė f
• Macedonian: псалм m (psalm)
• Malay: mazmur
• Malayalam: സങ്കീർത്തനം (ml) (saṅkīṟttanaṁ)
• Maltese: salm m, salmi m
• Manx: saum, sawm
• Middle English: salm
• Norman: sieaume m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: salme m

  Nynorsk: salme m

• Occitan: salme m
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: ѱалъмъ m (psalŭmŭ)

• Old East Slavic: псалъмъ m (psalŭmŭ)
• Persian:

  Classical Persian: مَزْمُور (fa) (mazmūr)

  Iranian Persian: مَزْمور (fa) (mazmur)

• Plautdietsch: Psalm m
• Polish: psalm (pl) m
• Portuguese: salmo (pt) m
• Romanian: psalm (ro) m
• Romansch: psalm m
• Russian: псало́м (ru) m (psalóm)
• Scottish Gaelic: salm m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: псалм m

  Roman: psalm m

• Slovak: žalm m
• Slovene: psalm (sl) m
• Sogdian: ܡܙܡܘܪ (mazmur)
• Spanish: salmo (es) m
• Swedish: psalm (sv) c
• Tagalog: salmo
• Tajik: забур (zabur)
• Thai: เพลงสวด (pleeng-sùuat)
• Turkish: ilahi (tr), mezmur, zebur
• Ukrainian: псало́м m (psalóm)
• Urdu: مَزمُور (mazmūr)
• Uzbek: zabur (uz), psalom
• Vietnamese: thánh ca (vi), thánh thi
• Welsh: salm f
• West Frisian: psalm

a hymn collected into one book of the Old Testament

• Albanian: psálm (sq) m
• Armenian: սաղմոս (hy) (saġmos)
• Asturian: salmu (ast)
• Azerbaijani: zəbur
• Catalan: salm (ca) m, psalm (ca) m
• Cherokee: ᏗᎧᏃᎩᏛ (dikanogidv)
• Cornish: salm m
• Czech: žalm (cs) m
• Danish: salme c
• Dutch: psalm (nl) m
• Finnish: psalmi
• French: psaume (fr) m
• Georgian: ფსალმუნი (psalmuni)
• German: Psalm (de) m
• Gothic: 𐍀𐍃𐌰𐌻𐌼𐍉 f (psalmō)
• Greek: ψαλμός (el) m (psalmós)
• Hebrew: מִזְמוֹר (he) m (mizmór)
• Indonesian: mazmur (id)
• Irish: salm m
• Italian: salmo (it) m
• Kannada: ಕೀರ್ತನೆ (kn) (kīrtane)
• Latin: psalmus m
• Maori: waiata (mi)
• Middle English: salm, sauter
• Ngazidja Comorian: zaɓura
• Norman: sieaume m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: salme m

  Nynorsk: salme m

• Plautdietsch: Psalm m
• Polish: psalm (pl) m
• Portuguese: salmo (pt) m
• Russian: псало́м (ru) m (psalóm)
• Scottish Gaelic: salm m
• Sogdian: ܡܙܡܘܪ (mazmur)
• Spanish: salmo (es) m
• Swahili: zaburi (sw)
• Swedish: psalm (sv) c
• Tagalog: salmo
• Turkish: ilahi (tr), zebur, mezmur
• Vilamovian: psolm m
• Welsh: salm f

Verb

psalm (third-person singular simple present psalms, present participle psalming, simple past and past participle psalmed)

1. To extol in psalms; to make music; to sing

   to psalm his praises.

   • 2012, George D. Manjounes, Good Morning, Morning Glory:

     I psalmed like a Moslem high in his mosque. And like a Greek priest, I sang the divine liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.

Translations

to extol in psalms; to sing

• Albanian: psál (sq), psalmój
• Catalan: salmejar (ca), psalmejar
• Finnish: veisata (fi)

Anagrams

• Lamps, Palms, lamps, palms, plasm

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

psalm m (plural psalmen, diminutive psalmpje n)

1. (music) psalm

Descendants

• Negerhollands: psalm, posallem

Middle English

Noun

psalm

1. Alternative form of salm

Old English

Noun

psalm m

1. Alternative form of psealm

Polish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin psalmus.

Noun

psalm m inan (related adjective psalmowy)

1. (music, religion) psalm (a sacred song; a poetical composition for use in the praise or worship of God)
2. (biblical) psalm (one of the hymns by David and others, collected into one book of the Old Testament, or a modern metrical version of such a hymn for public worship)

Declension

Declension of psalm

	singular	plural
nominative	psalm	psalmy
genitive	psalmu	psalmów
dative	psalmowi	psalmom
accusative	psalm	psalmy
instrumental	psalmem	psalmami
locative	psalmie	psalmach
vocative	psalmie	psalmy

Derived terms

adjective

• psalmodyczny

 

nouns

• psalmista
• psalmistka
• psalmodia
• psalmograf
• psałterz
• psałterzysta

 

Further reading

• psalm in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• psalm in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Church Slavonic ѱалъмъ (psalŭmŭ), from Ancient Greek ψαλμός (psalmós).

Noun

psalm m (plural psalmi)

1. psalm

Declension

Declension of psalm

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) psalm	psalmul	(niște) psalmi	psalmii
genitive/dative	(unui) psalm	psalmului	(unor) psalmi	psalmilor
vocative	psalmule		psalmilor

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish salmber, psalmber, from Old Norse salmr, psalmr, from Latin psalmus, from Ancient Greek ψαλμός (psalmós, “the sound emenating from twitching or twanging perhaps with the hands or fingers, mostly of musical strings”).

Noun

psalm c

1. a hymn, a church song
2. a psalm of David, one of the chapters of the book of Psalms

Usage notes

• Denominations in Sweden outside of the Church of Sweden (e.g. baptists) have traditionally not used the word psalm, but rather visa, sång (song). Recent integrated hymnbooks are titled Psalmer och visor (1976) and Psalmer och Sånger (1987) to indicated that they cover both the Church of Sweden and other denominations.

Declension

Declension of psalm

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	psalm	psalms
	definite	psalmen	psalmens
plural	indefinite	psalmer	psalmers
	definite	psalmerna	psalmernas

References

• psalm in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• psalm in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• psalm in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

Anagrams

• Palms, palms