decachord

Noun

decachord (plural decachords)

1. (historical) An Ancient Greek musical instrument with ten strings, resembling the harp.
   • Apollo himself is depicted with a decachord, that is, an instrument with ten tuned strings, or ten harmonising voices, otherwise a cithara.2011, Curial and Guelfa, page 236
2. A musical instrument mentioned in the Psalms, having ten strings and thought to resemble a lute or psaltery.
   • It is delightful to praise Jehobah, And to chant the measured lay to Thy name, O Most High; To proclaim Thy mercy in the morning, And Thy faithfulness every night, Upon the decachord, even upon the psaltery, Upon the higgæon, together with the harp.1863, Psalterium Messianicum Davidis Regis et Prophetae, page 228
   • The first is the view taken by the Syriac and Arabic versions, which make the lute to be the decachord, and the harp the mere accompaniment to a song.1871, John Mason Neale, Richard Frederick Littledale, A Commentary on the Psalms: Psalm LXXXI. to Psalm CXVIII., page 185
3. Anything having ten parts, especially something of mystical Christian significance.
   • The last presents the decachord theme in the form of a necklace of ten pieces of silver, precious and significant only when the pieces were not separated.1937, John Wesley Stockwell, Riding the Question Mark Through Life Situations and Progress, page 269
   • This decachord of 10 books about Christ's life from the Annunciation through his Ascension, culminating in the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles and the birth of the Church, was dedicated to Pope Julius II.2020, Matthew Coneys Wainwright, Emily Michelson, A Companion to Religious Minorities in Early Modern Rome, page 329
4. A set of ten pitches used to create a musical mode.
   • Using the logic employed by many subset-based similarity measures, the chromatic trichord apparently has twice the affinity to this decachord as it does to the chromatic pentachord, despite the fact that the trichord could be seen as the progenitor of the pentachord but not of the decachord.1999, George Eric Lasker, James Rhodes, Systems Research in the Arts, page 2
   • The reduced span of the system either indicates that the system was devised for the octochord or the decachord, or for the octochord with different tunings, in respect of UET VII 74.2005, Richard J. Dumbrill, The Archaeomusicology of the Ancient Near East, page 100