HALLELUJA, a term of rejoicing, sometimes sung Ha-
or rehearsed at the end of verses on such occasions.
The word is Hebrew; or rather, it is two Hebrew
words joined together: one of them hallelu, and
the other jah; an abridgement of the name of God,
Jehovah. The first signifies laudate, "praise ye;"
and the other, Dominum, "the Lord."
St Jerome first introduced the word hallelujah into
the church service: for a considerable time it was only
used once a-year in the Latin church, viz. at Easter;
but in the Greek church it was much more frequent.
St Jerome mentions its being sung at the interments
of the dead, which still continues to be done in that
church, as also on some occasions in the time of
Lent.
In the time of Gregory the Great, it was appointed
to be sung all the year round in the Latin church,
which raised some complaints against that pope; as giv-
ing too much into the Greek way, and introducing
the ceremonies of the church of Constantinople into
that of Rome. But he excused himself by alleging,
that this had been the ancient usage of Rome; and that
it had been brought from Constantinople at the time
when the word hallelujah was first introduced under
Pope Damascus.