psalmody

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin psalmōdia, from Koine Greek ψαλμῳδίᾱ (psalmōidíā), from Ancient Greek ψαλμός (psalmós, “psalm”) + ᾠδή (ōidḗ, “song”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɑː.mə.di/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɑ.mə.di/, /ˈsɑl.mə.di/, (obsolete) /ˈsæ.mə.di/, /ˈsæl.mə.di/

Noun

psalmody (countable and uncountable, plural psalmodies)

1. (music, uncountable) The singing or the writing of psalms.
   • 1781, Edward Gibbon, chapter XXVIII, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume III, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC:

     They deserved the enmity of the Pagans; and some of them might deserve the reproaches of avarice and intemperance; of avarice, which they gratified with holy plunder, and of intemperance, which they indulged at the expense of the people, who foolishly admired their tattered garments, loud psalmody, and artificial paleness.

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 3, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

     All these strange antics were accompanied by still stranger guttural noises from the devotee, who seemed to be praying in a sing-song or else singing some pagan psalmody or other, during which his face twitched about in the most unnatural manner.

2. (music, countable) A collection of psalms.

Related terms

• psalmodial
• psalmodist
• psalmodize

Translations

singing of psalms

• Albanian: psalmodí,-a f
• Bulgarian: псалмопение n (psalmopenie)
• Finnish: virren veisuu, veisuu (fi), veisaaminen (fi); psalmilaulu
• French: psalmodie (fr) f
• German: Psalmodie (de) f
• Greek: ψαλμωδία (el) f (psalmodía)
• Hungarian: zsoltáréneklés (hu)
• Manx: saumeydys, saumeyraght
• Polish: psalmodia (pl) f
• Spanish: salmodia (es)
• Welsh: salmyddiaeth f

collection of psalms

• Albanian: psalmodí,-a f
• Finnish: virsikirja (fi); psalmikokoelma
• Hungarian: zsoltároskönyv (hu), zsoltárkönyv (hu)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Albanian: psalmodí,-a f
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} salmodia (it) f (1)

Verb

psalmody (third-person singular simple present psalmodies, present participle psalmodying, simple past and past participle psalmodied)

1. To celebrate in psalms.