Art & MusicGreek → English
Timpani
/ˈtɪmpəni/noun
A set of large tuned kettledrums played with soft mallets in an orchestra.
The Greek roots
τύμπανον
týmpanon
hand drum
τύπτειν
týptein
to strike, beat
Literally: “the struck thing”
The story of the word
The Greek τύμπανον was a frame drum beaten in the rites of Cybele and Dionysus, nothing like a tuned copper kettle. Latin took it as tympanum, which then branched into anatomy for the eardrum and into architecture for the triangular panel in a pediment. English got the modern musical word secondhand, as the Italian plural printed at the top of orchestral scores.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Italian → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
tympanumtympanictypetypography
In a sentence
The timpani come in four bars before the end and the whole hall feels it.