Bible Dictionary

Dulcimer.

DUL'CIMER. The instrument denoted by this word was, in the opinion of the best Bible scholars, as well as of the Rabbins, a bag-pipe like that in use at the present day among the peasants of north-we…

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)

DUL'CIMER. The instrument denoted by this word was, in the opinion of the best Bible scholars, as well as of the Rabbins, a bag-pipe like that in use at the present day among the peasants of north-western Asia and southern Europe, and called by them zampagna, which is a word of similar sound to the word here used, symphoniah. Dan 3:5, 1 Kgs 16:10, 2 Sam 20:15. 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.