Kinnor
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City of David, Jerusalem | |
Other names | harp of David, from Hebrew kinnor Dávid |
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Classification | String instrument |
Related instruments | |
Kinnor (Hebrew: כִּנּוֹר kīnnōr) is an ancient Israelite musical instrument in the yoke lutes family, the first one to be mentioned in the Hebrew Bible.
Its exact identification is unclear, but in the modern day it is generally translated as "harp" or "lyre",[1]: 440 and associated with a type of lyre depicted in Israelite imagery, particularly the Bar Kokhba coins.[1]: 440 It has been referred to as the "national instrument" of the Jewish people,[2] and modern luthiers have created reproduction lyres of the kinnor based on this imagery.
The word has subsequently come to mean violin in Modern Hebrew.
Identification
The kinnor is generally agreed to be a stringed instrument, and thus the stringed instrument most commonly mentioned in the Old Testament.[1]: 440 The kinnor is also the first string instrument to be mentioned in the Bible, appearing in Genesis 4:21.[4]
Details
Construction
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.[7] If this etymology is correct it may be relevant to the question of the shape of the instrument.
Usage
The kinnor is mentioned 42 times in the Old Testament, in relation to "divine worship... prophecy... secular festivals... and prostitution."
Use of the word in Modern Hebrew
The word כינור kinór is used in Modern Hebrew to signify the modern Western violin.[9]
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8028-3785-1. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
- ^ Nathanael D. Putnam; Darrell E. Urban; Horace Monroe Lewis (1968). Three Dissertations on Ancient Instruments from Babylon to Bach. F. E. Olds. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
- ISBN 9783932203671.
- ISBN 978-0-567-02542-5. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-486-27147-7. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8143-2235-2. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
- ^ Jeremy Montagu, Musical Instruments of the Bible, Scarecrow Press, 2002, p. 15
- ISBN 978-0-7864-7409-7. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
- ^ Jeremy Montagu, Musical Instruments of the Bible, Scarecrow Press, 2002, p. 12
External links
- Bo Lawergren, “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.
- Texts on Wikisource:
- "Kinnor". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
- "New International Encyclopedia. 1905.