4. The tr^nH, giltith, a word which occurs in the titles to Psa. viii, Ixxxi, Ixxxiv, and is generallv supposed to denote a Chief of Musicians. (As* miisicalinstrument. From the i-^l'^Muleum r^"' ■^"'' name it has been supposed to
be an instrument which David brought from Gath; and it has been inferred from Isa. xvi, 10 that it was in particular use at the vintage season. If an instrument of music, it is remarkable that it does not occur in the list of the instruments assigned by David to the Temple musicians; nor even in that list which appears in verses 1 and 2 of Psa. Ixxxi, in the title of which it is found. The supposition of Gesenius, that it is a general name for a stringed instrument, obviates this difficulty. The Sept. renders th^ title by vwip rCov \t]vuiv, " upon the wine-press;" and Carpzov, Pfelffer, and others follow this in taking the word to denote a song composed for the vintage or for the Feast of Tabernacles (Carpzov, Observ. Philol. super PsalmosTrcs T\''T\t.t^~hv [Ilelmst. 1758] ; PfeiflFer, Ueber die Musi/:, p. 32). See Gittith.
5. D"^))^, minnim., which occurs in Psa. xlv, 8 and cl, 4, is supposed by some to denote a stringed instrument, but it seems merely a poetical allusion to the strings of any instrument. Thus in Psa. xlv, 8 we would read, " Out of the ivory palaces the strings (i. e. concerts of music) have made thee glad;" and so in Psa. cl, 4, " Praise him with strings (stringed instruments) and tigabs." See String.
6. ri5n'3, machaldth, which occurs in the titles of Psa. liii and Ixxxviii, is supposed by Gesenius and others to denote a kind of lute or guitar, which instrument others find in the viinnim above noticed. The preva-
1. A kind of guitar ; 2. Ancieut lute ; 3. Arabian tanbur.
MUSICAL INSTRUIVIENTS
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MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
lence in the East of instruments of this sort would alone suf^gest the probability that the Jews were not without them; and this i)robability is greatly increased by the evidence which the Egyiitian paintings offer that they were equally prevalent in ancient times in neighboring
Ancient, Kgyiitians playiuj; on the kite or Lrnitar: 2 is dancing ; 3 has the iustrument sluug across the shoul- ders.
nations. The Egyptian guitar consisted of two parts : a long, flat neck or handle, and a hollow, oval body, composed wholly of wood, or covered with leather, whose upper surface was perforated with several holes to allow the sound to escape ; over this bodj', and the whole length of the handle, extended three strings of catgut secured at the upper extremity. The length of the handle was sometimes twice, sometimes thrice that of the body, and the whole instrument seems to have
Egyptian stringed instrnmeuts with necks: 1 has an or- namental head ; 3 approaches nearly to the lute.
measured three or four feet. It was struck with a plec- trum, and tlie performers usually stood as they played. Both men and women used the guitar; some danced while thev touched its strings (Wilkinson, Anc. Eg, i, 84-HO. l-i.t-l ■.>-)). See Mahai.ath.
II. Wind /ii.ih-itmeii/s. — 1. The most ancient of these was the -51", uf/ab, mentioned along with the kinno?- as the invention of Jnbal (Gen. iv, 21). It is twice al- luded to (Job xxi, 12; xxx, 31), and in both cases in connections which show that it was used on occasions of domestic festivity and joy. The only other place where it occurs is in Psa. cl, 4, where it is referred to among other instruments suitable to be employed in the praises of God. Opinion has been, and is still, much divided as to the instrument denoted by the name. Winer and Loyrer(in llcr/.ofr's Ridl-Juiri/l/opadu) favor the idea that it was a species of bag]iipe; and in tliis view they are supported by the authority of Jerome, the Targums (X3!l5S), and some rabbinical writers. The Septuagint varies in its translation of the word; in Genesis rendering it by Ki^c'ipa. in Job by v/zoX/idr, and in Psa. cl by vpyavoi; the term adopted by the Vulgate, Syriac, Arabic, and most other versions, as
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well as by our own. But by upyafov we are by no means to understand the organ, which is an instrument of no great antiquity, even if we are to suppose, as some do, that there was a rudiment of the modem organ in use in the Temple of Jerusalem in the time of Christ, an invention of which strange and evidently fabulous things are told us by the Talmud, under the name of the nC'^^S"? {nwgrephah). The organum meant by th? word was as old as the days of Jubal ; it must, therefore, have been of a rude and simple construction, and is best iniderstood of the so-calletl Pandean pipe, formed by a r comliiiiation of reed-pipes of r different lengths and thick- nesses. In su|)port of this view is the fact that the Pan- dean pipe was an instrument of Svrian or Oriental origin, P»» ^'P^^;, (Statues, Brit-
,•.,.. -^ f . ,• , ish Museum.)
and that It was of such high
antiquity that the profane writers do not know to whom to ascribe it. Some refer it to Pan (Virgil, Ed. ii), others to Jlercury (Pind. Od. xii, de P(dlade), otliers to Marsyas and Silenus (Athenajus, iv, 182). This an- tiquity corresponds with the Scriptural intimation con- cerning the vr/ah, and justifies us in seeking for it among the more ancient instruments of the Orientals, especial- ly as it is still common in Western Asia. Xiebuhr saw it in the liands of a peasant at Cairo {Rtiseheschr. i, 181); and Russell, in his Nat. llist. of Aleppo (i, 155, 156), says that "the syrinx or Pan's pipe is still a festi- val instrument in Syria; it is known also in the city, but very few performers can sound it tolerably well. The higher notes are clear and pleasing, but the longer reeds are apt, like the dervise flute, to make a hissing sound, though blown by a good player. The number of reeds of which the syrinx is composed varies in dif- ferent instruments from five to twenty-three." The classical syi-inx is usually said to have had seven reeds (YixQ.Ecl. ii) ; but we find some on the monuments with a greater number, and the shepherd of Theocritus {Id. viii) had one of nine reeds. See Okgax.