Harp is the rendering in the Auth.A^ers. of the fol- lowing terms in the original : usually "lii2, kinnor' (whence the Greek Kivvpa). the lyre or eythara (inva- riablj- rendered " harp"), N. Test. KiBcipa (1 Cor. xiv, 7; Rev. V, 8; xiv, 2; xv, 2), whence the verb KiBapit^io (1 Cor. xiv, 7 ; Rev. xiv, 2), and the compound noiui Ki~a- pi[)S6g ('•harper,"Eev. xiv, 2; xviii, 22) ; elsewhere onlj- of the Chald. OHrs^p, kitharos' (text of Dan. iii, 5, 7, 10, 15), or G'i"irp,ia^/(?-os' (margin), from the latter Greek term. See JIltsic.
The '■ harp" was David's favorite instrument, on which he was a proficient (see Dreschler, De cithara David, Lips. 1712; also in Ugolino, xxxii). It probably did not essentially differ from the modem Arabic ciihcre (Nie- buhr. Trar. i, 177, pi. 26 ; Descript. de rEf/ypte, x^^i,366, pi. BB, fig. 12, IS).— Winer, ii, 124. See David.
HARP
Modem E;,'ypti;m performer ou the Ood or Lute. (From Lane.)
Gescniiis mclines to the opinion tliat ^123 is derived from 133, kanar', " an unused onomatopoetic root which means to jjive forth a tremulous and stridiilous sound, like, that of a string when touched." The kinnor was the national instrument of the Hebrews, and was well known throughout Asia. There can be little doubt that it was the earliest instrument with which man w
Ancient E^'ypliau Lyres. 1,in the Lovdeu Collection; 2, iu the Ijerliu Collection.
quaintctl, as the WTiter of the Pentateuch assigns its in- vention, together with that of the ajsi", iirjuh', incor- rectly translated "organ" in the A.V.'to the antedilu- vian period ((Jen. iv, 21). KaUsch {Hist, and Crit. Com. on Ike Old Test.) considers kinnor to stand for the whole class of stringed instruments {jmjinoth), as iif/ah, says he, '•is the type of all wind instruments." Writers who connect the Kiviipa with Kivvpog {wuiling), Kivvpofiai (to lament), conjecture that this instrument was only eni- jjloyed by the Greeks on occasions of sorrow and distress. If this were the ca.se with the Greeks, it was far differ- ent with the Ileljrews, amongst whom the kinnoi- served as an accompaniment to songs of chccrfidness and mirth, as well as of praise and thanksgiving to the supreme Being (Gen; xxxi,27; 1 Sam.xvi,23'; 2 Chron. xx, 28 ; IVa. xxxiii,2), and wa.s very rarely used, if ever, iu times of i)ri vate or national adiietion. The Jewish bard finds no enijiloymont for tiie kinnor during the Balndoniau captivity, but describes it as put aside or suspended on
Other Forms of Ancient Egyptian Harps.
6 HARP
the willows (Psa. cxxxvii, 2) ; and in like manner Job's harp " is changed into mourning" (xxx, 31) while the hand of grief pressed heavily upon him. The passage '•my bowels shall sound like a harp for Moab" (Isa. xvi, 11) has impressed some Biblical critics with the idea that the limior had a lugubrious sound; but this is an error, since l^fT^ IIJZD refers to the vibration of the chords, and not to the sound of the instrument (Gesen. and Hitzig, in Comment.).
Touching the shape of the kinnor, a great difference of opiiuon prevails. The author of SMlte Har/gibborim (c. 6) describes it as resembling the modern harp ; Pfeif- fer gives it the form of a guitar ; and St. Jerome declares that it resembled in shape the Greek letter delta (quoted by Joel BriU in the preface to jMendelssohn's Psalms'). Josephus records {Atif. vii, 12, 3) that the kinnor hac] ten strings (compare Theodoret, Qiucst. Si on 1 Kings), and that it was played on with the plectrum ; others assign to it twenty-four ; and in the Shilte Ilaggibhorini it is said to have had forty-seven. Josephus's state- ment, however, ought not to be received as conclusive, as it is in open contradiction to what is set forth in the 1st book of Samuel (xvi, 23 ; xviii, 10), that David play- ed on the kinnor with his hand. As it is reasonable to suppose that there was a smaller and a larger kinnor, in- asmuch as it was sometimes played by the Israelites whilst walking (1 Sam. x, 5), the opinion of J\Iunk — " Ou jouait peut-etre des deux raanieres, suivaut les dimen- sions de rinstrument" — is well entitled to consideration. The Talmud {Berachoth) has preserved a curious tradi- tion, to the effect that over the bed of David, facing the north, a kinnor was suspended, and that when at mid- night the north wind touched the chords they vibrated, and produced musical soimds.
i
Varions Ancient Egyptian timues of Lyres. 1, 2, pl.nyed without, and 3, 4,"with the plectrum; 4 is supposed to be the Hebrew lyre.
The n'^Si^'i^n "b'J ^132— '-harp on the Sheminith" (1 Chron. xv, 21)— was so called from its eight strings. Jlanj' learned writers, including the author of Shilte Ilafujibborim, identify the word '• sheminith" with the odare ; but it woidd indeed be rash to conclude that the
Ancient grand L \\\ iiilliii)'
HARP
87
HAllPIIIUS
ancient Ilolrews understood the octave in precisely the sense in which it is employed in modern times. See SnEMiNiTir. tlie skill of the Jews on the humor ap- pears to have reached its highest point of perfection in tlie age of David, the effect of whose performances, as weU as of those by the members of the " schools of the prophets," are described as truly marvellous (compare 1 Sam. X, 5; xvi,23; and xix, 20).— Smith, s. v.