Dictionary

psalmist en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈsɑːmɪst/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree English psalm Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Hellenic *-tās Ancient Greek -τής (-tḗs) Ancient Greek -ῐστής (-ĭstḗs)bor. Latin -istader. Old French -istebor. Middle English -ist English -ist English psalmist From psalm + -ist.

Meanings

1. A composer of psalms.
   • An environment which would have made a contented woman a poet, a suffering woman a devotee, a pious woman a psalmist, even a giddy woman thoughtful, made a rebellious woman saturnine. 1878 January–December, Thomas Hardy, chapter 7, in The Return of the Native […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], published 1878, →OCLC, book I (The Three Women), page 157:
2. (capitalized) A composer of one of the Biblical Psalms.
   • The hunter is taken in his own snare, as the great Psalmist says. 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable and Company, […], →OCLC:
   • More than 2,500 years ago, the Psalmist of the Old Testament, for example, wrote that “the days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow.” 2025 October 25, Stephen Cave, “Threescore and many more”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 9:
   • Either man is the creature whom the Psalmist described as "a little lower than the angels," crowned with glory and honor, holding "dominion over the works" of his Creator; or man is a soulless, animated machine to be enslaved, used and consumed by the state for its own glorification. 1955 January 6, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Third State of the Union Address:

Forms

Relateds

Psalmist

Translations (26)

pl psalmista (composer of psalms) · ru псалмопи́сец (composer of psalms) · cy salmydd (composer of psalms) · gv saumeyder (composer of one of the Biblical Psalms) · pl psalmista (composer of one of the Biblical Psalms) · gd salmair (composer of one of the Biblical Psalms) · sq psalmíst (composer of psalms) · fr psalmiste (composer of one of the Biblical Psalms) · gv saumeyder (composer of psalms) · cy salmydd (composer of one of the Biblical Psalms) · bg псалмопи́сец (composer of psalms) · ang sealmwyrhta (composer of psalms) · sq psalmíst,-e (composer of psalms) · es salmista (composer of psalms) · la psalmista (composer of psalms) · ca psalmista (composer of psalms) · la psalmista (composer of one of the Biblical Psalms) · fr psalmiste (composer of psalms) · la psalmidicus (composer of psalms) · bg псалмопи́сец (composer of one of the Biblical Psalms) · de Psalmist (composer of one of the Biblical Psalms) · fi virsisäveltäjä (composer of psalms) · gd salmair (composer of psalms) · ru псалмопи́сец (composer of one of the Biblical Psalms) · de Psalmist (composer of psalms) · fi psalmien säveltäjä (composer of one of the Biblical Psalms)