Explore the Craft of Writing Poetry Liturgical Verse
Hymn - Latin-hymnus derived from the Greek hymnos, "to sing", is a song of praise of a god or hero. In pagan verse hymn refers to a "prize song" to the gods or heroes and the oldest hymn is an epic verse to the Delphic Apollo. It shows up a little later in distiches and the lyrical verse of Alcaeus, Anacreon and Pindar.
The Latin hymnus narrows down the definition to a song in the praise of God. Saint Augustine in commenting on Psalm 148 defines a hymn it this manner:
"Know ye what a hymn is? It is a song with praise of God [c