Baltic psaltery is a family of related plucked

box zither The box zither is a class of stringed instrument in the form of a trapezoid-shaped or rectangular, hollow box. The strings of the box zither are either struck with light hammers or plucked. Among the most popular plucked box zithers are the Arab ...

psalteries A psaltery ( el, ψαλτήρι) (or sawtry, an archaic form) is a fretboard-less box zither (a simple chordophone) and is considered the archetype of the zither and dulcimer; the harp, virginal, harpsichord and clavichord were also inspired by ...

, historically found in the southeast vicinity of the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

and played by the

Baltic people The Balts or Baltic peoples ( lt, baltai, lv, balti) are an ethno-linguistic group of peoples who speak the Baltic languages of the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. One of the features of Baltic languages is the number o ...

Baltic Finns The Baltic Finnic or Balto-Finnic peoples, also referred to as the Baltic Sea Finns, Baltic Finns, sometimes Western Finnic and often simply as the Finnic peoples, are the peoples inhabiting the Baltic Sea region in Northern and Eastern Europe ...

Volga Finns The Volga Finns (sometimes referred to as Eastern Finns) are a historical group of indigenous peoples of Russia living in the vicinity of the Volga, who speak Uralic languages. Their modern representatives are the Mari people, the Erzya and the ...

and northwestern

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 ''Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

Types

Baltic psalteries include: *

Kanklės Kanklės () is a Lithuanian plucked string instrument (chordophone) belonging to the Baltic box zither family known as the Baltic psaltery, along with the Latvian kokles, Estonian kannel, Finnish kantele, and Russian gusli. Etymology Acc ...

(

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

) *

Kantele A kantele () or kannel () is a traditional Finnish and Karelian plucked string instrument (chordophone) belonging to the south east Baltic box zither family known as the Baltic psaltery along with Estonian kannel, Latvian kokles, Lithuanian ...

(

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

Karelia Karelia ( Karelian and fi, Karjala, ; rus, Каре́лия, links=y, r=Karélija, p=kɐˈrʲelʲɪjə, historically ''Korjela''; sv, Karelen), the land of the Karelian people, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for ...

and

Northwest Russia Northwest Russia, or the Russian North is the northern part of western Russia. It is bounded by Norway, Finland, the Arctic Ocean, the Ural Mountains and the east-flowing part of the Volga. The area is roughly coterminous with the Northwestern ...

) * Kannel (

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

) * Kāndla (

Livonian people The Livonians, or Livs ( Livonian: ''līvlizt''; Estonian: ''liivlased''; Latvian: ''līvi'', ''lībieši''), are a Balto-Finnic people indigenous to northern and northwestern Latvia. Livonians historically spoke Livonian, a Uralic language c ...

of Northwest

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

) *

Kokles Kokle (; ltg, kūkle) or historically kokles (''kūkles'') is a Latvian plucked string instrument (chordophone) belonging to the Baltic box zither family known as the Baltic psaltery along with Lithuanian kanklės, Estonian kannel, Finnish ...

(Latvia) * Krez (

Udmurt people The Udmurts ( udm, Удмуртъёс, ) are a Permian ( Finnic) ethnic group in Eastern Europe, who speak the Udmurt language. In the course of history, Russian-speakers have referred to them as ' (), Otyaks, Wotyaks or Votyaks. Etymology The n ...

Central Russia Central Russia is, broadly, the various areas in European Russia. Historically, the area of Central Russia varied based on the purpose for which it is being used. It may, for example, refer to European Russia (except the North Caucasus and ...

) *

Krylovidnye gusli ''Gusli'' ( rus, гусли, p=ˈɡuslʲɪ) is the oldest East Slavic multi-string plucked instrument, belonging to the zither family, due to its strings being parallel to its resonance board. Its roots lie in Veliky Novgorod in Novgorodian Ru ...

(Northwest Russia) *

Kusle Kusle ( Meadow Mari: ''кӱсле'', Northwestern Mari: ''кӹсле'' or ''кӹслӓ'') or karsh (Meadow and Northwestern Mari: ''кӓрш'') is a Mari plucked string instrument (chordophone). It has 12-20 strings and is shaped like a semi- ...

(

Mari people The Mari ( chm, мари; russian: марийцы, mariytsy) are a Finnic people, who have traditionally lived along the Volga and Kama rivers in Russia. Almost half of Maris today live in the Mari El republic, with significant populations in the ...

of Central Russia) *

Harpu A kantele () or kannel () is a traditional Finns, Finnish and Karelians, Karelian plucked string instrument (chordophone) belonging to the south east Baltic region, Baltic box zither family known as the Baltic psaltery along with Estonian people ...

(

Sápmi (, smj, Sábme / Sámeednam, sma, Saepmie, sju, Sábmie, , , sjd, Са̄мь е̄ммьне, Saam' jiemm'n'e) is the cultural region traditionally inhabited by the Sámi people. Sápmi is in Northern and Eastern Europe and includes the ...

) The internationally most known instrument of the family is Finnish kantele, so its name is sometimes used in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

to also refer to other Baltic psalteries as well. Many of the Baltic psalteries hold a strong symbolic significance in their respective countries, including Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Russia, where playing instruction and instrument makers are available.

Etymology

According to Finnish linguist Eino Nieminen, the names ''kanklės'', ''kantele'', ''kannel'', ''kāndla'' and ''kokles'' possibly come from the

proto-Baltic Proto-Baltic (PB, PBl, Common Baltic) is the unattested, reconstructed ancestral proto-language of all Baltic languages. It is not attested in writing, but has been partly reconstructed through the comparative method by gathering the collected dat ...

form ''*kantlīs''/''*kantlēs'', which originally meant 'the singing tree', ultimately deriving from the

Proto-European Old Europe is a term coined by the Lithuanian archaeologist Marija Gimbutas to describe what she perceived as a relatively homogeneous pre-Indo-European Neolithic and Copper Age cultural horizon or civilisation in Southeastern Europe and part ...

root ''*qan-'' ('to sing, to sound'). However, Lithuanian ethnologist

Romualdas Apanavičius Romualdas is a Lithuanian masculine given name. List of people named Romualdas * Romualdas Aleliūnas (born 1960), Lithuanian designer of ceramics *Romualdas Brazauskas (born 1960), Lithuanian basketball referee *Romualdas Granauskas Romualdas Gra ...

believes they could be derived from the Proto-European root ''*gan(dh)-'', meaning 'a vessel; a haft (of a sword)', suggesting that it may be related to the Russian word ''

gusli ''Gusli'' ( rus, гусли, p=ˈɡuslʲɪ) is the oldest East Slavic multi-string plucked instrument, belonging to the zither family, due to its strings being parallel to its resonance board. Its roots lie in Veliky Novgorod in Novgorodian Ru ...

''.Apanavičius, Romualdas
Ancient Lithuanian Kanklės
Institute of Ethnomusic, Vilnius, Lithuania

The Baltic Psaltery Symposia

Since 1990 Baltic Psaltery Symposia have taken place in Finland (1990; 1997; 2008), Lithuania (1994; 2017), Latvia (2000), Canada (2004) and Estonia (2013) every three or four years on a rotating basis.

Types

Etymology

The Baltic Psaltery Symposia

References

Bibliography

Further reading