the.com/psaltery
A harp that forgot to stand up, plucked flat like a medieval zither.
means A stringed instrument with a flat soundbox, plucked (not bowed) like a zither, popular from ancient times through the Middle Ages.
from From Greek *psaltērion*, 'stringed instrument played by plucking,' tied to the verb *psallein*, 'to pluck' or 'to pull with the fingers.' It traveled through Latin *psalterium* into Old French and then English — the very same root that gave us 'psalm,' since psalms were originally songs sung to plucked strings.
- biblical pedigree
- Name appears in Psalms, hence the pun
- shape
- Trapezoid or wing-shaped wooden soundbox, no neck
- played how
- Plucked with fingers or quills, never bowed
- ancestor status
- Forerunner to the harpsichord and piano