Psaltery

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| header = Psalterion harp vs Psaltery and rote

| image2 = TI-1 fol-023R King playing psaltery.jpg

| width2 = 110

| alt2 = Image of a King playing a triangular psaltery

| caption2 =Triangular psaltery or rotte. Not a harp, as the sound-box blocks the viewer from seeing through the instrument; also it has sound holes.

| image1= Psalterion 001.jpg

| width1 = 159

| alt1 = Art from Greek vase: a woman plays a psalterion harp

| caption1 =A woman playing a triangular harp, which was called by "Jewish, Christian and Greek sources" a psalterion. Ancient Greek red-figured pelike from Anzi, Apulia, circa 320–310 BC.

|image3= B-I-2 260R large psaltery.jpg

|caption3 = Resembling a harp, this was identified as a psaltery. Print detailed enough to show bridges on the instrument's bottom and strings running in courses.

|alt3 = print of musician playing a harp-like psaltery

|width3=202

|footer = Psalteries in a triangular shape were confused with harps at times. They used the top-horizontal side used to hold the tuning pegs. These psalteries were known as the "rote" or a variation of that name. The three sided instruments were popular in parts of the church for their symbolic three sides, reminder of the Trinity.

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The psaltery of Ancient Greece (epigonion) was a harp-like stringed instrument. The word psaltery derives from the Ancient Greek ψαλτήριον (psaltḗrion), "stringed instrument, psaltery, harp"[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%23115319 ψαλτήριον], Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus 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."[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%23115311 ψάλλω], Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus The psaltery was originally made from wood, and relied on natural acoustics for sound production.

In the King James Bible "psaltery", and its plural, "psalteries", are used to translate several words from the Hebrew Bible whose meaning is now unknown.These words are the Hebrew keli (כלי) in Psalm 71:22 and I Chronicles 16:5; nevel (נבל) 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 the Aramaic pesanterin (פסנתרין) in Daniel 3:5, 7, 10, and 15.

While the Greek instruments were harps, psaltery came to mean instruments that were strung across a resonating wood box.{{cite book |title= A Survey of Musical Instruments |last= Marcuse |first= Sibyl |publisher = Harper & Row |place= New York |date= 1975 |isbn= 0-06-012776-7}} The box-zither psalteries may have a Phoenician origin.

The strings of the medieval instrument were usually made of metal, unlike the finger-plucked harp, strung with catgut, and played using a plectrum 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, strung across a soundboard. The psaltery has been compared to the harpsichord{{cite book |last1=Bucur |first1=Voichita |title=Handbook of Materials for String Musical Instruments |date=29 August 2016 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3319320809 |page=51 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TyvrDAAAQBAJ |access-date=10 August 2019}} and dulcimer, though some forms of the latter are not plucked, but struck with hammers.{{cite book |last1=Jackson |first1=Ronald |title=Performance Practice: A Dictionary-Guide for Musicians |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1136767692 |page=322 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qeq1AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA322 |access-date=10 August 2019}}

From the 12th through the 15th centuries, psalteries are widely seen in manuscripts, paintings and sculpture throughout Europe.Anon. (15th century). "[https://web.archive.org/web/20181117071015/http://musiconis.huma-num.fr/fiche/451/Roi+David+jouant+du+psalt%C3%A9rion 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 Benedictine Psalter, in 13th century Spain (in the Cantigas de Santa Maria), 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.

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 and related instruments, such as the santur, cimbalom, 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. In the 20th century, the bowed psaltery came into wide use. It is set up in a triangular format so that the end portion of each string can be bowed.

File:Walraversijde94.jpg|Psaltery in the shape called a "pig's head" psaltery, a very common psaltery shape in manuscripts.{{cite encyclopedia |editor-last= Sadie |editor-first=Stanley |title= Psaltery Frame zither|encyclopedia= The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments |year=1984 |id= Volume 3 |pages= 39, 151–154}}

File:Gorleston Psalter psaltery player.png|Gorleston-on-Sea, England. Psaltery player from the Gorleston Psalter, 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 playing a psaltery, painting by Lorenzo Monaco.

• Baltic psaltery
• Magadis
• Nevel (instrument)
• Qanun (instrument)

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Psaltery}}

{{Commons category|Psalteries}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20121124054758/http://www.music.iastate.edu/antiqua/psaltery.htm Psaltery]
• [http://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/arts/opus/opus213e.shtml#Opus4 Discussion of psalteries, with image] from the exhibition [http://www.civilization.ca/arts/opus/opus201e.html Making Musical Instruments: The making of musical instruments in Canada] by the [http://www.civilization.ca/ Canadian Museum of Civilisation]

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