a song or ode in honour of God, or a poem, proper to be sung; composed in honour of some deity. The word is Greek, ὑμνόω, hymn, formed from the verb ἐλαυνω, celebro, I celebrate. Isidore remarks on this word, 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 Poictiers, is said to have been the first who composed hymns to be sung in churches; and he was followed by St Ambrose. Most of those contained 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 employed in the sense of a praise offered in verse, but simply of a laud or praise. The angelic hymn, or Gloria in excelsis, is of the first kind; the trisagion is of the second; the Cherubic hymn is of the third; and the hymn of victory and triumph, called koinonos, the last.

The hymns or odes of the ancients generally consisted of three sorts of stanzas; one of which, called strophe, was sung by the band as they walked from east to west; another, called antistrophe, was performed as they returned from west to east; and 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 the people.