The word psalms comes from the Greek psalmoi, which in classical times, meant a 'song' or 'chant' that is accompanied by a stringed instrument. "The book of Psalms" comes to us via the Latin title "Liber Psalmorum." The entire book is also called the Psalter in English. This name comes from the title, Psalterion, that the book was given in a 5thCent AD copy of the Septuagint (known as the Codex Alexandrinus).1
The oldest manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible do not have a title for the entire collection of psalms. Later rabbinic traditions refer to it as Sefer Tehillim ("Book of Praise") or just Tehillim. The noun tehillim derives from hll, the root from which we get hallelu-jah, i.e., "praised be Yahweh," a word that appears frequently but only in the Psalter.2
Low Chai Hok
©Alberith, 2013
