Dulcimer

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

Daniel 3:5,10 , an instrument of music, which the rabbins describe as a sort of bagpipe, composed of two pipes connected with a leathern sack, and of a harsh, screaming sound. The modern dulcimer is an instrument of a triangular form, strung with about fifty wires, and struck with an iron key while lying on the table before the performer. See Music .

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Daniel 3:5,15

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

A Hebraized Greek name, sumfonia , in Daniel 3:5; Daniel 3:15. A bagpipe, consisting of two pipes thrust through a leather bag, emitting a plaintive sound; the modern Italian zampogna . Some Greek Ionian of western Asia probably introduced the instrument into Babylon. However, Furst makes the word Semitic ("a tube".) The old spinet resembled its tone.

Holman Bible Dictionary

Daniel 3:10

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

DULCIMER . This term, which denotes a stringed instrument (? the mediæval ‘psaltery’; see Music, § 4 ( 1 ) ( b )), is given incorrectly by EV [Note: English Version.] in Daniel 3:5; Daniel 3:15 as tr. [Note: translate or translation.] of sumpônya (Gr. loan-word), which prob. = ‘bagpipe’; see Music, § 4 (2) ( d ).

King James Dictionary

DULCIMER, n. An instrument of music played by striking brass wires with little sticks. Daniel 3:5 .

Morrish Bible Dictionary

sumponyah. A musical instrument formed of two pipes inserted into a leathern bag, somewhat like the bagpipes, or the Italian sampogna. Daniel 3:5,10,15 . It was not, like the modern dulcimer, formed with strings.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Dulcimer. A musical instrument similar to a bag-pipe like that in use at the present day among the peasants of northwestern Asa and southern Europe. Daniel 3:5; Daniel 3:10; Daniel 3:15. It was composed of two pipes with a leathern sack, and produced a harsh, screaming sound. It has no resemblance at all to the modern dulcimer.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Dulcimer. (Hebrew, sumphoniah). A musical instrument, mentioned in Daniel 3:5; Daniel 3:15 probably, the bagpipe. The same instrument is still in use amongst peasants, in the northwest of Asia and in southern Europe, where it is known by the similar name, sampogna or zampogna.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

dul´si -mẽr . See Music under Nebhel and Sumphonia ̌ .

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Dulcimer [MUSIC]

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Chald. סוּמְפֹּנַיָה, sumponyah'; Sept. συμφωνία, Vulg. symphonia), a musical instrument, not in use among the Jews of Palestine, but mentioned in Daniel 3:5; Daniel 3:15, and at Daniel 3:10 under the shorter form of סַיפֹנְיָא ( syphonya', where the text correctively points סוֹּבּנְיָא ), along with several other instruments, which Nebuchadnezzar ordered to be sounded before a golden image set up for national worship during the period of the captivity of Judah. Luther translates it lute. Grotius adopts the view of Servius, who considers simphonia to be the same with the crooked trumpet (tibia obliqua, πλαγίαυλος ); he also quotes Isidore (2:22), who speaks of it as a long drum. Rabbi Saadia Gaon (Comm. on Dan.) describes the sumphonyah as the bag-pipe, an opinion adopted by the author of Schilte hag-giborim (in Ugolini Thesaur. 32:39-42; see Joel Brill's Preface to Mendelssohn's version of the Psalms), by Kircher, Bartholoccius, and the majority of Biblical critics. The same instrument is still in use among peasants in the NW of Asia and in Southern Europe, where it is known by the similar name sampogna or zampogna. With respect to the etymology of the word a great difference of opinion prevails. Some trace it to the Gr. συμφωνία (whence Eng. symphony), and Calmet, who inclines to this view, expresses astonishment that a pure Greek word should have made its way into the Chaldee tongue: it is probable, he thinks, that the instrument dulcimer (A.V.) was introduced into Babylon by some Greek or Western- Asiatic musician who was taken prisoner by Nebuchadnezzar during one of his campaigns on the coast of the Mediterranean. Geseniuas adopts this derivation (Thes. Hebrews page 941), and cites Polybius ( ap. Athen. 10:52, page 439, ed. Casaub.) and Isidore ( Orig. 3:21) in confirmation. Others regard it as a Shemitic word, and connect it with סמפן, "a tube" (Furst). The word סמפון occurs in the Talmud ( Sukka, 36 a), where it evidently has the meaning of an air-pipe, with a case (Chelim, 16:8); but the explanation (Chelim, 2:6) by סנפים is not clear (Rosenmuller on Daniel 1.c.). Landau (Aruch. Art. סמפון ) considers it synonymous with siphon. Ibn Yahia, in his commentary on Daniel 3:5, renders it by אורגאנוש ( ὄργανα ), organ, the well known powerful musical instrument composed of a series of pipes. Rabbi Elias, whom Buxtorf quotes ( Lex. Talm. col. 1504), translates it by the German word Leier (lyre). The old-fashioned spinet, the precursor of the harpsichord, is said to have resembled in tone the ancient dulcimer. The modern dulcimer is described by Dr. Busby (Dict. of Music) as a triangular instrument, consisting of a little chest, strung with about fifty wires cast over a bridge fixed at each end; the shortest wire is 18 inches in length, the longest 36; it is played with two small hammers held in the hands of the performer. (See Musical Instruments).