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dulcimer
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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English
Etymology
From Old French doulcemelle, probably from Latin dulce melos (“sweet song”), from Ancient Greek μέλος (mélos, “melody, song”).
Pronunciation
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈdʌl.sɪ.mɚ/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈdʌl.sɪ.mə/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Hyphenation: dul‧ci‧mer
Noun
dulcimer (plural dulcimers)
- A stringed instrument, with strings stretched across a sounding board, usually trapezoidal, played by plucking on the strings (traditionally with a quill) or by tapping on them (in the case of the hammer dulcimers).
- Coordinate term: zither
- 1797, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Kubla Khan”, in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Other Poems, Courier Dover Publications, published 1992, →ISBN, page 59:
- A damsel with a dulcimer / In a vision once I saw: / It was an Abyssinian maid / And on her dulcimer she played, / Singing of Mount Abora.
- 1947 January 25, “Album Reviews: The Seven Joys of Mary—John: Jacob Niles (Disc 732)”, in The Billboard, volume 59, number 4, Nielsen Business Media, →ISSN, page 32:
- Accompanying himself with his dulcimer, a plectrum instrument of his own handicraft, Niles harks back to the balladeers of old.
- 2004, Madeline MacNeil, You Can Teach Yourself Dulcimer, Mel Bay Publications, →ISBN, Introduction, page 4:
- Played traditionally, the dulcimer sounds delightful with drones acenting the melody you are playing.
Derived terms
Translations
musical instrument
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See also
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Finnish
Etymology
From Italian dulcimero.
Pronunciation
Noun
dulcimer
Declension
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