at least, as were of a IjTic character (Snedorf, De Uymnis Vet. Grcec. p. 19). Such songs were properly called hymns. Hence Arrian says distinctly {De Exjjed.Alex. iv, 11,2), vfivoi fiiv if." roi's ^lovQ iroiovvrai, tnaivoi. ek if av- OpwTTOVQ. So also Phavorinus : I'^voc, >'/ npoQ Srtbi> <{jSi). Augustine {in Psa. Ixxii) thus fully states the meaning of the term : " Hymni laudes sunt Dei cum cantico. Hymni cantus sunt, continentes laudes Dei. Si sit laus, et non sit Dei, non est hymnus. Si sit laus et Dei laus, et non cantatur, non est hymnus. Oportet ergo ut si sit hymnus, habeat haec tria, et laudem et Dei et canticum.^ See Chant.
" Hymn," as such, is not used in the English version of the O. T., and the nomi only occurs twice in the N. T. (Eph. V, 19; Col. iii, 16), though in the original of the latter the derivative verb {ifiviio) occurs in four places (" sing a hymn," Matt, xxvi, 30 ; Mark xiv, 20 ; " sing praises," Acts xvi, 25 ; Heb. ii, 12). The Sept., however, emploj^s it freelj' in translating the Hebrew names for al- most every kind of poetical composition (Schleusn. Lex. vpvoQ). In fact, the Avord does not seem to have in the Sept. any very special meaning, and hence it calls the Heb. book of Tehillim the book of Psalms, not oi Hymns ; yet it frequently uses the noun vpvoQ or the verb iipvid) as an eqiuvalent of psalm (e. g. 1 Chron. xxv, 6; 2 Chron, vii,G; xxiii, 13; xxix, 30 ; Neh. xii, 24; Psa. xl, l,and the titles of many other psalms). The word ps(dm, however, generally had for the later Jews a definite meaning, while the word hymn was more or less vague in its application, and capable of being used as occasion should arise. If a new poetical form or idea slioidd be produced, the name of hymn, not being embarrassed by a previous determination, was ready to associate itself with the fresh thought of another literature. This seems to have actually been the case. See Song.
Among Christians the hymn has always been some- thing different from the psalm ; a different conception in thought, a different type in composition. See Hysi- NOLOGY. The " hymn'' which our Lord simg with his tlisciples at the Last Supper is generally supposed to have been the latter pait of the Hallel, or series of psalms which were sung by the Jews on the night of the Passover, comprehending Psa. cxiii-cxviii ; Psa. cxiii and cxiv being sung before, and the rest after the Passover (Buxtorfii Lex. Talm. s. v. PPil, quoted by Kui- nol on Jlatt. xxvi, 30 ; Lightfoot's Heb. and Talm. Ex- ercitations on Mark xiv, 26 ; Works, xi, 435). See Hal- lel. But it is obvious that the word hymn is in tliis case not applied to an individual psalm, but to a number of psalms chanted successively, and altogether forming a kind of devotional exercise which is not unaptly call- ed a hymn. The prayer in Acts iv, 24-30 is not a hymn, unless we allow non-metrical as well as metrical hymns. It may have been a hymn as it was originally uttered; but we can onh' judge by the Greek translation, and this is without metre, and therefore not properly a hymn. In the jail at Pliilippi, Paul and Silas " sang hymns" (A. V. "praises") imto God, and so loud was their song that their fellow-prisoners heard them. This must have been what we mean by suiging, and not merely recitation. It was, in fact, a veritable singing of hymns. It is re- markable that the noun hyinii is only used in reference to the services of the Greeks, and in the same passages is clearly distinguished from the psalm (Eph. v, 19; Col. iii, 16), "psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs." It has been conjectured that by " psalms and hymns" the po- etical compositions of the Old Testament are chiefly to be understood, and that tlic epithet " spiritual," here ap- plied to " songs," is intended to mark those devout effu- sions which resulted from the spiritual gifts granted to the primitive Church ; yet in 1 Cor. xiv, 26, a produc- tion of the latter class is called " a psalm." Josephus, it may be remarked, used the terms vfivoi and i^Eai in reference to the Psalms of David (Ant. vii, 12, 3). See
PSALJI.
It is probable that no Greek version of the Psalms, even supposing it to be accommodated to the Greek
1
HYIVIN
433
HYMNOLOGY
metres, would take root in the aifections of the (Jeiitile converts. It was not only a question of metre, it was a question oUune ; and Greek tunes required Greek hymns. So it was in Syria. Richer in tunes than Greece, for Greece had but eight, while Syria had 275 (Benedict. Fivf. vol. V, Oj). Eph. Syr.'), the Sj'rian hymnographers revelled in the varied luxury of their native music; and the result was that splendid development of the Hj-mn, as moulded by the genius of Bardesanes, Harmonius, and Ephraem S}tus. In Greece, the eiglit tunes which seem to have satisfied the exigencies of Chiurch music were probably accommodated to fixed metres, each metre be- ing wedded to a particular tune ; an arrangement to which we can observe a tendency in the Directions about tunes and measures at the end of our English version of the Psalms. This is also the case in the German hym- nology, where certain ancient tunes are recognised as models for the metres of later compositions, and their names arc always prefixed to the hymns in common use. See Music.