Dulcimer definition

Dulcimer





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3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Dulcimer \Dul"ci*mer\, n. [It. dolcemele,r Sp. dulcemele, fr. L.
     dulcis sweet + melos song, melody, Gr. ?; cf. OF. doulcemele.
     See {Dulcet}, and {Melody}.] (Mus.)
     (a) An instrument, having stretched metallic wires which are
         beaten with two light hammers held in the hands of the
         performer.


     (b) An ancient musical instrument in use among the Jews.
         --Dan. iii. 5. It is supposed to be the same with the
         psaltery.
         [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  dulcimer
       n 1: a stringed instrument used in American folk music; an
            elliptical body and a fretted fingerboard and three
            strings
       2: a trapezoidal zither whose metal strings are struck with
          light hammers

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Dulcimer
     (Heb. sumphoniah), a musical instrument mentioned in Dan. 3:5,
     15, along with other instruments there named, as sounded before
     the golden image. It was not a Jewish instrument. In the margin
     of the Revised Version it is styled the "bag-pipe." Luther
     translated it "lute," and Grotius the "crooked trumpet." It is
     probable that it was introduced into Babylon by some Greek or
     Western-Asiatic musician. Some Rabbinical commentators render it
     by "organ," the well-known instrument composed of a series of
     pipes, others by "lyre." The most probable interpretation is
     that it was a bag-pipe similar to the zampagna of Southern
     Europe.
     

















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