psealm

Old English

Alternative forms

• psalm, sealm

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin psalmus; the initial p- was probably silent except for in careful, learned speech.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sæ͜ɑlm/, [sæ͜ɑɫm]

Noun

psealm m

1. psalm

Declension

Strong a-stem:

	singular	plural
nominative	psealm	psealmas
accusative	psealm	psealmas
genitive	psealmes	psealma
dative	psealme	psealmum

Descendants

• Middle English: salm, psalm, psalme, psame, salme, saulm, saume, spalme, sallme, sealm, selm (Early Middle English)
  • English: psalm
  • Scots: saum, sawm
  • → Middle Welsh: salm
    • Welsh: salm

Further reading

• Monika Opalińska (2018 January) “'Hearing the inaudible'. On scribal representations of phonological categories in medieval English verse”, in Bartomiej Czaplicki, Beata Łukaszewicz, Monika Opalińska, editors, Phonology, Fieldwork, Generalizations, Peter Lang, pages 169-184.