English

Photo of a hammered dulcimer

Noun

dulcimer ‎(plural dulcimers)

1. (music) A stringed instrument, with strings stretched across a sounding board, usually trapezoidal. It is played on the lap or horizontally on a table. Some have their own legs. These musical instruments are played by plucking on the strings (traditionally with a quill) or by tapping on them (in the case of the hammer dulcimers).

   The two classes of dulcimer are the "Mountain" or "Appalachian" dulcimer (plucked and played with a quill, usually a goose quill) and the hammer dulcimer (played by tapping on the strings with small "hammers"). See also: zither

   • 1797, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Kubla Khan”, in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Other Poems, Courier Dover Publications, published 1992, ISBN 9780486272665, 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 0006-2510, 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 9780786639717, Introduction, page 4:

     Played traditionally, the dulcimer sounds delightful with drones acenting the melody you are playing.

Derived terms

See also

• Appendix:Glossary of chordophones

Translations