song or ode in honour of God; or a poem, proper to be sung, composed in honour of some deity.—The word is Greek, ὕμνος hymn, formed of the verb ὑμνέω, "I celebrate."—Hiodore, 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 threnos, 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 Mefleur de Port Royal.—In the Greek Liturgy there are four kinds of hymns; but the word is not taken in the sense of a psalm offered in verse, but simply of a loud or praise. The angelic hymn, or Gloria in excelsis, makes the first kind; the triphagion the second; the Cherubic hymn, the third; and the hymn of victory and triumph, called trisummi, the last.

The hymns or odes of the ancients generally consisted of three sorts of stanzas; one of which, called strophé, was sung by the band as they walked from east to west; another, called antistrophé, was performed as they returned from west to east; the third part, or epode, was sung before the altar. The Jewish hymns were accompanied with trumpets, drums, and cymbals, to assist the voices of the Levites and people.