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more about dulcimer
dulcimer |
3 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: 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. From WordNet r 1.6 [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.
more about dulcimer
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