dulcimer

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dulcimer

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From Old French doulcemelle, probably from Latin dulce melos (“sweet song”), from Ancient Greek μέλος (mélos, “melody, song”).

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdʌl.sɪ.mɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdʌl.sɪ.mə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: dul‧ci‧mer

dulcimer (plural dulcimers)

1. 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.

• Appendix:Glossary of chordophones

From Italian dulcimero.

• IPA^(key): /ˈdulsimer/,
• IPA^(key): /ˈdultʃimer/,
• Syllabification^(key): dul‧ci‧mer

dulcimer

1. (music) dulcimer (instrument)