dulcimer

Etymology

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

noun

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
   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. 1797, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Kubla Khan”, in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Other Poems, Courier Dover Publications, published 1992, page 59
   Accompanying himself with his dulcimer, a plectrum instrument of his own handicraft, Niles harks back to the balladeers of old. January 25, 1947, “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
   Played traditionally, the dulcimer sounds delightful with drones acenting the melody you are playing. 2004, Madeline MacNeil, You Can Teach Yourself Dulcimer, Mel Bay Publications, Introduction, page 4