Art & MusicGreek → English
Dulcimer
/ˈdʌlsɪmər/noun
A stringed instrument whose strings are struck with small hammers or, in the Appalachian type, plucked.
The Greek roots
μέλος
mélos
song, tune
Literally: “sweet song”
Follow a root:μέλος4 words
The story of the word
The name looks Latin and is half Greek. Old French doulcemer appears to render dulce melos, sweet song, with Latin supplying the sweetness and μέλος the tune; the derivation is the standard one but the varying French forms leave room for doubt. The instrument reached English by the fifteenth century, and the King James translators used the word in Daniel for an Aramaic instrument name they could not identify, which is how a hammered board of strings joined Nebuchadnezzar's orchestra.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Old French → English
- First recorded
- 15th century
Same family
melodymelodicmelismamelodrama
In a sentence
She played the hammered dulcimer with two beaters no heavier than pencils.