Meaning
A hymn — especially the old, mournful, slow-metre hymns from the Ira D. Sankey hymnbook, sung at church, at 'nine-night' wakes, and at times of grief. To 'sing sankey' is to raise these traditional hymns, often 'lined out' (a leader calls each line and the gathering sings it back). The word has become the everyday Jamaican term for a solemn old hymn.
Examples
-
Dem sing sankey all night at di wake.
They sang the old hymns all night at the wake.
-
Granny know every sankey by heart.
Grandma knows every old hymn by heart.
-
Raise a sankey fi di departed.
Raise a hymn for the departed.
Origin
From the Ira D. Sankey hymnbook; the generic Jamaican word for an old hymn. See [[set-up]], [[nine-night]].
How it’s used
An old solemn hymn (from the Sankey hymnbook); sung at church and wakes. See [[set-up]], [[nine-night]], [[wake]].