HYMN, a song or ode in honour of God; or a poem, proper to be sung, composed in honour of some deity. See SONG, and ODE.—The word is Greek, ὕμνος, hymn, formed of the verb ὕμνειν, celebro, "I celebrate."—Ifidore, on this word, remarks, that hymn is properly a song of joy, full of the praises of God; by which, according to him, it is distinguished from threna, which is a mourning song, full of lamentation.
St Hilary, bishop of Poitiers, is said to have been the first that composed hymns to be sung in churches, and was followed by St Ambrose. Most of those in the Roman Breviary were composed by Prudentius. They have been translated into French verse by Messieurs de Port Royal.—In the Greek Liturgy there are four kinds of hymns; but the word is not taken in the sense of a praise offered in verse, but simply of a laud or praise. The angelic hymn, or Gloria in excelsis, makes the first kind; the trifagion the second; the Cherubic hymn, the third; and the hymn of victory and triumph called Ἱννοκίον, the last.
The hymns or odes of the ancients, generally consisted of three stanzas or couplets; the first called strophe, the second antistrophe, and the last epode.