Thank you, John and Mark. Your comments have been very useful.
John Howell wrote:
Hmm. One must be rather careful in assuming how words were actually
used, and what they actually meant in different situations, because they
can tie us up in knots.
I am sensing that.
The other thing I would question is your assumption that the harp was
the stringed instrument that was meant.
Not so much an assumption but a rather tight knot which I tied on myself
when, for simplicity, I followed a lexicon in using the word "harp" as a
generic translation of the names of the several Greek plucked string
instruments.
Mark D Lew wrote:
It appears that the use of "psalm" in Greek translation was meant in
the secondary sense of just a song, without regard to accompaniment.
I can accept that but remain tantalised by the question: why did the
translators prefer a name whose origins embody the notion of plucking a
stringed instrument when other Greek words meaning "song" were available
to them? However, it may well be as Mark says
... that the Greek translators noticed the stringed instruments
mentioned elsewhere so felt it natural to attach their word "psalm"
to the songs, even though the Hebrew label made no such implication.
Interestingly, the article to which Mark refers in the online Jewish
Encyclopedia indicates that, at a certain time, some psalms were sung by
a chorus of Levites which included some singers who accompanied
themselvers with stringed instruments, the kinor and nebel.
Other material which I googled was not so supportive of an association
between string strumming and psalm singing; so it remains an open
question with me.
Kenneth K
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