“psalteries” is a form of
psaltery
UK /ˈsɒl.tə.ɹi/ · US /ˈsɔl.tə.ɹi/ noun
Forms psalteries psaltry sawtry
- noun (music) A zither-like musical instrument consisting of a soundboard with multiple strings, played by plucking the strings with the fingers or a plectrum.
Synonyms
Etymology
A learned alteration of Middle English sauterie, sautrie (rarely psautry), from Old French psalterie, from Latin psaltērium, from Ancient Greek ψαλτήριον (psaltḗrion, “stringed instrument, psaltery, harp”), from ψάλλω (psállō, “to touch sharply, to pluck, to pull, to twitch” and in the case of the strings of musical instruments, “to play a stringed instrument with the fingers, and not with the plectron”). Doublet of psalter, psalterion, and psalterium. Cognate of psalm and psalmody.
Webster’s 1913
Etymology [OE. sautrie, OF. psalterie, F. psaltérion, L. psalterium psaltery, psalter, from Gr. Psalm, Psalter.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “psaltery”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details