Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Hymnody.
  • noun The study of hymns.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The science of hymns, treating of their history, classification, criticism, and use.
  • noun Hymnody.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The hymns or sacred lyrics composed by authors of a particular country or period; ; also, the collective body of hymns used by any particular church or religious body.
  • noun A knowledge of hymns; a treatise on hymns.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The study of hymns; hymnody

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Greek humnologiā, singing of hymns : humnos, hymn + logos, saying; see –logy.]

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Examples

  • The invention of printing from movable types, about 1452, by Johann Gutenberg of Mainz marks an era in Latin hymnology, because of the prompt use of the new method to multiply the Church books in use in the various dioceses.

    Archive 2008-08-01 bls 2008

  • The invention of printing from movable types, about 1452, by Johann Gutenberg of Mainz marks an era in Latin hymnology, because of the prompt use of the new method to multiply the Church books in use in the various dioceses.

    August 6: The Feast of the Transfiguration bls 2008

  • Some of his verses rank among the best in Welsh hymnology; and one especially is known wherever the Welsh tongue is spoken.

    Sweet Singers of Wales 1889

  • [84] Matthesius's sermons; yet his best show that he had in good measure the real gift of song, and mark a new style in German hymnology, not the grave and lofty tone that had been caught from the Psalms of David, but the simple, earnest, picturesque manner of the popular songs.

    Christian Singers of Germany 1869

  • The one great step that was made in German hymnology at this time was the official introduction of vernacular hymns into the Roman Catholic churches of Southern Germany and Austria.

    Christian Singers of Germany 1869

  • Him that existed before all ages, hast thou as a babe brought forth and hast rejuvenated our hearts which were decayed through many sins; accept also the renewal of our hymnology which is being offered unto Thy festival, O all-holy Theotokos.

    The General Menaion or the Book of Services Common to the Festivals of our Lord Jesus of the Holy Virgin and of Different Orders of Saints Anonymous 1899

  • As reported at ThinkProgress, Joe the Deacon, had this to say about replacing baby Jesus with a lump of Christmas coal in Silent Night: "I'll put my years as a Sunday school teacher, church deacon and church musician up against just about anybody else when it comes to understanding hymnology and respect for religious traditions."

    Justin Callaway: Joe the Deacon and the Church of Clean Coal Carolers: How to Faith-wash Green-washing 2009

  • We are asked to assume what the hymnology of Easter Sunday calls “another way of living.”

    Archive 2008-10-19 papabear 2008

  • We are asked to assume what the hymnology of Easter Sunday calls “another way of living.”

    Zenit: Patriarch's Words at Vespers papabear 2008

  • Next to go should be those "We are Jesus" hymns in which the congregation for the first time in two millennia of Christian hymnology pretends that it's Christ.

    George Weigel: Heretical Hymns? Argent 2006

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