Plucked stringed instruments

An Assyrian lyre player. Detail from a bas-relief from the palace of Ashurbanipal, Nineveh, seventh century BCE (British Museum, London). ‘ASOR, nevel ‘asor (Heb. neºel @aśôr/rwc[ lbn, from the numeral @ǎśarā /hrc[, ten), an ancient Jewish stringed instrument, similar to the ten-stringed zither, probably of Phoenician or Assyrian origin. Judging from the depiction on two ivory caskets in the British Museum in London, it consisted of a frame with ten strings stretched transversely. It is unclear whether the frame was wide, narrow or deep. The performer played the ‘asor with the fingers, holding the instrument in front of himself. ‘Asor is mentioned in the Bible three times, all in the Psalter: Pss 33:2; 92:4 and 144:9. In two cases (Pss 33:2 and 144:9) the word is used as an adjective related to the noun “nevel”.1 The LXX in Ps. 143:9 and in Ps. 32:2 in PsHebr translates it as ν ψαλτηρí δεκαχóρδ (LXX Ps. 143:9 and 33:2) and the Vulg. (PsHebr) as “in psalterio decacordo” (in Ps. 143:9 and in Ps. 32:2 in PsHebr) and “in psalterio decem cordarum” in Ps. 32:2 in PsGal. In

the Hebrew text of Ps. 92:4 the conjunction “and” between the words “asor” and “nevel” (@ǎlê-@aśôr wa@ǎl©-nāºel/lbnAyl[w rws[Ayl[) seems to imply two instruments. This terminological differentiation is maintained in early Bible translations, for instance, in Aramaic2 and Ethiopic. Later the Vulg. also presents ‘asor as an independent instrument in PsHebr: in decacordo, et in psalterio(LXX has δεκαχóρδον ψαλτριον as in the other two cases). Further versions on the whole follow the LXX interpretation. Some render ‘asor as a generic term, “ten-stringed instrument”: ‘ašārī (Taf),3 “instrument de dix cordes” (LyB), “instrument а dix cordes” (GenB),4 “nástrog o desyti strunach” (KrB), “instrument of ten strings” (BpB, DouB, KJV, ASV, TEV), “instrument o dziesięciu stronach” (BP), “atsimiani” (GCB). Others define its type, so that it appears (1) as a psaltery (that is, a zither), or (2) as a harp, or (3) as a lyre, or (4) as a lute. Examples of each category are as follows: (1) sautrie (WyclB), psaltery (DouB, ASV), psalterio (BIM), Psalter (LB), salterio (SBE), sapsalmune (GB), santur (KMT); (2) harp (RSV, TEV, CEV, BNBG), harpe (BFC), arpa (BILC); (3) lyre (NJB, NIV); (4) @ud (LL),5 lute (MofB, RSV), liuto (BILC), luth (BFC). In many cases the number of the strings is indicated: mazmur zaašartu ’awətarihu (EthPS), “zaltarz o desyeti strunach” (PrB), “psalter der zehen saytten” (NüB), “Psalter van tien Snaren” (BgvW),6 “psalter van thien snaren” (BNvW), “taslarani sałmos” (EAB), “taselar taviłov sałmos” (WAB), “atzali sapsalmuni” (GB) (the last three all mean a tenstringed psaltery), atsimiani ebani, atsimiani čangi (GCB) (these two both mean a ten-stringed harp), nablum decachordum (BLJ),7 qītāra dāti @ašara, kīnār dāti @ašara (LPsA), ten-stringed lute (Mof), ten stringed harp, harp of/with ten strings (RSV, NASB, NIV, CEV), harfa deseti strun (SSP). The majority of the Church Slavonic and Russian Bible translations8 render ‘asor as jàëòèðü ägñ#òîcòðóííûé (the original MS of the GennB and its main complete copies: JoachB, SidB, UvarB, and also SkorB, OstB, MoscB, and ElizB), jàëòèðü ! ñòðqííûé (SimPs) ïñàëòèðü ägñ#òîñòðóííàÿ (SkorB), èíñòðóìgíò w ägñ#òè còðóíàõ (AFPs), ägñ#òîñòðóííîg îðóäig (AmPs), псалтирь десятиструнная (SynB), лира десятиструнная (WCBT), десятиструнная арфа (the Russian text in the interlinear TanJer). In Ps. 91:4 (MT 92:4) however, a generic term десятиструнник (a ten-stringed instrument) is used: ägñ#òîñòðóíig (AmPs), десятиструнный (SynB), десятиструнная (TanJer). It does not show the typology of the instrument. Some recent editions chose the same principle, such as the Dutch BNBG (tiensnarig instrument), Armenian WAB (taselar nvagaran) and Turkish KMT (on telli saz). In one instance the translator invented a compound expression ägñ#òîñòðóííîg ïhíig (a ten-stringed singing: AmPs). The majority of scholars (F. J. Fétis, C. Engel, C. Sachs and A. Sendrey) also think that the ‘asor and the nevel were different instruments. Some, however, (J. Weiss, D. G. Stradling and K. A. Kitchen) consider they were

one and the same instrument, and differed only in size (the ‘asor being bigger) and in the number of the strings (the nevel had 12 strings). As for the origin of the ‘asor there are several hypotheses. According to one (Sachs, Sendrey, H. Avenary) it was of Phoenician provenance. This point of view is supported by the text of the “Ad Dardanum epistola” by Pseudo-Jerome (ninth century) where “psalterium decachordum” coincides exactly with the Phoenician zither (Figure 2.1). The author finds a symbolic sense in the construction of the instrument. The ten strings, he states, mean the ten commandments,9 and the four sides of the square shape symbolize the four Gospels. Some Bible scholars (F. W. Galpin, S. H. Langdon) assume that the term ‘asor is a dialectal variant of the word @ǎšôr/rwv[ spelt incorrectly. So the ‘asor could be an Assyrio-Babylonian harp, borrowed by the ancient Jews. Furthermore the origins of the instrument may be even earlier. The ten-stringed horizontal harp is known to have existed in the Sumerian and Babylonian cultures. It was called eshirtu (eširtu, second millennium BCE). It accompanied the ritual love songs iratu (literally “songs of the breast”). This theory seems to be reliable not only from the linguistic point of view (it gives the right etymology), but it is also confirmed by archaeological findings from Nimrud (Figure 2.2). According to other hypotheses ‘asor was the Egyptian arched harp related to the ancient Greek sambuke (F. J. Fétis), the Syrian angular harp (C. Engel), the ancient Greek magadis (J. C. Harenberg),10 the lyre with a rectangular sound box (C. Sachs), or an instrument similar to the qaytros of the Hellenistic period mentioned in Dan. 3:5, 7, 10, 15 (E. Werner). In Modern Hebrew the word ‘asor retains only its numerical sense, the number ten.