Sistrum

A sekhem-style sistrum
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Y8
Sistrum
in hieroglyphs

A sistrum (plural: sistra or (in Latin) sīstra;[1] from the Greek σεῖστρον seistron of the same meaning; literally "that which is being shaken", from σείειν seiein, "to shake"[2][3][4]) is a musical instrument of the percussion family, a form of rattle, used most notably by the ancient Egyptians. It consists of a handle and a U-shaped metal frame, made of brass or bronze and ranging from 30 to 76 cm (12–30 in) in width. The frame supports sliding metal cross-bars, which may hold metal rings. When shaken, the small rings or loops of thin metal on its movable crossbars produce a sound that can vary from a soft clank to a loud jangling. Its name in the ancient Egyptian language was sekhem (sḫm)[citation needed] or sesheshet (sššt) because of the sound it made when it rattled.[nb 1] The ancient Egyptian sistrum had important associations with religious and ritualistic practices concerning various musical and joyful deities.[5]

A sekhem is the simpler, hoop-like sistrum,[citation needed] while sesheshet (an onomatopoeic word) is the naos-shaped one.[6]

The English language has adopted the name sistrum to refer to modern-day West-African disc-rattle instruments.[7][8]

  1. ^ Stein, Jess, ed. (1988). The Random House College Dictionary (Revised ed.). New York: Random House. p. 1230. ISBN 0-394-43500-1.
  2. ^ sistrum. Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short. A Latin Dictionary on Perseus Project.
  3. ^ σεῖστρον, σείω. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project.
  4. ^ "sistrum". Oxford English Dictionary (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. 1989.
  5. ^ a b Tahya (July 2018). "Rediscovering the Sistrum" (PDF). tahya.com. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  6. ^ Compare:Ayad, Mariam F. (2 June 2009). "Rites and rituals: The sistrum, the menat-necklace and objects sacred to Hathor". God's Wife, God's Servant: The God's Wife of Amun (ca.740–525 BC). Abingdon: Routledge. p. 37. ISBN 9781134127931. Retrieved 21 April 2023. The distinction between the two types of sistrum, naos or loop, is strictly based on shape. [...] Setting the two types of sistrum apart is the shape and composition of the top part. The loop-sistrum typically comprised an arched piece of wire to which were attached three horizontal bars. [...] The naos-sistrum is so-called because its top part took the shape of a temple's sanctuary, or naos. [...] In Egyptian, three words were used to refer to the sistrum: sekhem, sesheshet, and ib. [...] A recent study by Reynders has shown that the Egyptian word sesheshet was always used in the caption texts accompanying scenes of playing the systrum, regardless of which type of sistrum was depicted in the scene. This observation led her to conclude that the word sesheshet referred to the noise made by the sistrum, while sekhem, when applied to the sistrum, referred specifically to the incarnation or manifestation of the goddess Hathor.
  7. ^ Smithsonian National Museum of African Art.
  8. ^ Byghan, Yowann (12 March 2020). Sacred and Mythological Animals: A Worldwide Taxonomy. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. p. 64. ISBN 9781476638874. Retrieved 21 April 2023. A sekhem (the Egytian name) or σεῖστρον (the Greek name), now called a sistrum in West Africa, was a percussion instrument with a chiming or rattling sound [...].


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