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Well attestedNamed from the place

Appalachian dulcimer

noun · first attested 20th century

It is not a dulcimer: real dulcimers are struck, and this one is plucked.

A narrow fretted zither played across the lap, with three or four strings and a droning sound.

Appalachian Mountains·Canada

35.7647°N -82.2653°W · Q93332

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Relationship
Named from the place
Confidence
Well attestedThe place link is the standard scholarly account.
Attested
20th century
Part of speech
noun

Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.

How it traveled
  1. Step 1

    Appalachian Mountains

  2. In English

    Appalachian dulcimer

The entry

Settlers in the southern mountains built the instrument in the early 1800s from older European fretted zithers, and folk revivalists attached the regional name to it in the 20th century. Calling it a dulcimer is a misfit borrowed from the hammered instrument it does not resemble in play.

Canada

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