kinnor

File:AssyrianPrisonersLyresBritishMuseum.JPG, on display at the British Museum: As the Judahite inhabitants of Lakhish are sent into exile in 701 BCE, they are forced to play the kinnor.{{cite book |editor-first= Thomas |editor-last= Staubli |title= Musik in biblischer Zeit und orientalisches Musikerbe |publisher= Katholisches Bibelwerk, Stuttgart for Bibel+Orient Museum, Fribourg |language= German |date= 2007 |page= 20 |isbn= 9783932203671 }}]]

The kinnor is generally agreed to be a stringed instrument, and thus the stringed instrument most commonly mentioned in the Old Testament.{{rp|440}} The kinnor is also the first string instrument to be mentioned in the Bible, appearing in Genesis 4:21.{{cite book|author=Theodore W. Burgh|title=Listening to the Artifacts: Music Culture in Ancient Palestine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D0vq5ItRg6sC&pg=PA20|accessdate=4 June 2013|date=23 May 2006|publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-567-02542-5|pages=20–}}

File:Kinnorancient.png

Josephus describes the kinnor as having 10 strings, made from a sheep's small intestine,{{rp|442}} and played with a plectrum (pick),{{rp|441}} though the Book of Samuel notes that David played the kinnor "with his hand".{{cite book|author=Abraham Zebi Idelsohn|title=Jewish Music: In Its Historical Development|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sqrrPJ6Eh-cC&pg=PA8|accessdate=4 June 2013|year=1929|publisher=Courier Dover Publications|isbn=978-0-486-27147-7|pages=8–}} The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia also notes that the early church fathers agreed the kithara (kinnor) had its resonator in the lower parts of its body.{{rp|442}} Like the nevel, the kinnor likely consisted of a soundboard with two arms extending parallel to the body, with the arms crossed by a yoke from which the strings extend down to the body.{{cite book|author=Amnon Shiloah|title=Jewish Musical Traditions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b9ST9c-7_z0C&pg=PA137|accessdate=4 June 2013|date=1 May 1995|publisher=Wayne State University Press|isbn=978-0-8143-2235-2|pages=137–}}{{rp|43}}

One etymology of Kinneret, the Hebrew name of the Sea of Galilee, is that it derives from kinnor, on account of the shape of the lake resembling that of the instrument.Jeremy Montagu, Musical Instruments of the Bible, Scarecrow Press, 2002, p. 15 If this etymology is correct it may be relevant to the question of the shape of the instrument.

File:King David as Orpheus in a synagogue mosaic - Google Art Project.jpg in Gaza.]]

The kinnor is mentioned 42 times in the Old Testament, in relation to "divine worship... prophecy... secular festivals... and prostitution."{{cite book|author=Jonathan L. Friedmann|title=Music in Biblical Life: The Roles of Song in Ancient Israel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lbz3xsoATEAC&pg=PA71|accessdate=4 June 2013|date=8 January 2013|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-7409-7|pages=71–}} The kinnor is sometimes mentioned in conjunction with the nevel, which is also presumed to be a lyre but larger and louder than the kinnor.{{rp|43}} The Mishna states that the minimum number of kinnor to be played in the Temple is nine, with no maximum limit.

The word כינור kinór is used in Modern Hebrew to signify the modern Western violin.Jeremy Montagu, Musical Instruments of the Bible, Scarecrow Press, 2002, p. 12

• Nevel

{{Refbegin|colwidth=33em}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Refend}}

• Bo Lawergren, "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/1357602 Distinctions among Canaanite, Philistine, and Israelite Lyres, and Their Global Lyrical Contexts]," Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 309 (Feb., 1998), pp. 41–68.
• {{Wikisource-inline|list=
• {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Kinnor|short=x |noicon=x}}
• {{Cite NIE|wstitle=Kinnor|year=1905|short=x |noicon=x}}

}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Lyres

Category:Early musical instruments

Category:Israeli musical instruments

Category:Ancient Hebrew musical instruments

Category:Sacred musical instruments