The hammered dulcimer (also known as the hammer dulcimer) is a
stringed musical instrument with the strings stretched over a
trapezoidal sounding board. The instrument is typically set at an angle on a stand in front of the musician, who holds a small
mallet, called a hammer in each hand with which to strike the strings (for the plucked Appalachian dulcimer, see
Appalachian dulcimer). The word dulcimer comes from the Latin dulcis or "sweet" and the Greek melos, meaning "song". The origin of the instrument is uncertain, but tradition holds that it was invented in
Iran roughly 2000 years ago, where it is called a
Santur. (See also
Santoor, a folk instrument from the Kashmir region.)
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large trapezoidal zither with many strings in pairs, 3s or 4s stretched over long (sometimes individually moveable) bridges. Played with small wooden or cane hammers. Played in British Isles and North America. Closely related to the Hungarian cymbalom, German/Swiss hackbrett, Iraqi and Iranian santir (probably the origin of all of these), Indian santoor, Korean yangum and Chinese yang qin.
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