cymbal

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English cimbal, also symbal,^[2] inherited from Old English cimbal,^{[3][4][5][2][6]} borrowed from Latin cymbalum,^[7] and was readopted in the later medieval period borrowed from Old French cymbale,^{[8][9][4][5][7]} itself from the Latin.^[4][8] The Latin noun is from Ancient Greek κύμβαλον (kúmbalon),^{[3][4][7][10]} from Ancient Greek κύμβη (kúmbē, “hollow of a vessel, cup, bowl, boat”).^{[7][2][5][10]} Klein traces the Greek word to Proto-Indo-European *qumb- (“to bend, curve”), with Avestan xumba (“pot”), Middle Irish comm (“vessel”) and hump,^[2] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged also refers it to hump;^[10] but Etymonline quotes Beekes, for whom the word "cannot be inherited" and is rather a “Wanderwort”, a wandering loan that "fits a vessel term very well".^[4] The Old English word would have begun with the sound now spelled “ch”; the “s” sound comes from French.^[11] The same Old English form is probably behind chime.^[11][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

One of a pair of concave plates struck together: Old English, about 825, in the Vespasian Psalter.^[5][7] The Middle English word appears about 1340, in an early psalter,^[5] and Etymonline gives only the mid-15th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Old English it glosses Latin cymbalum, and one text cited by Bosworth-Toller holds that to touch cymbals or psalteries betokens a lawsuit.^[6] The Anglo-Norman word, from the early 13th century, also named the striker of a clock.^[13] English used cymbal loosely for other instruments, as in Chambers's Cyclopædia of 1728,^[7][8] and in London in the 1850s a hurdy-gurdy could be a cymbal.^[14] In Lancashire a cymbal of iron rings on a wire triangle, long used among gipsies, is described in connection with the sense of a device for catching birds at night.^[14] Johnson (1755), defining it only as "a musical instrument", quotes Coriolanus.^[15] From there came a stop on an organ (1852),^[7] a spongy cake or doughnut in local American use (1860),^[7] underworld slang for a watch, from its ticking (1857),^[16] and a figurative use after 1 Corinthians 13:1 (1875).^[7] Modern dictionaries add the suspended cymbal struck with a stick or wire brush.^[10][17]

Timeline

• c. 825 – Old English cimbal, in the Vespasian Psalter.^[5][7]
• c. 1340 – the Middle English noun, in a psalter.^[5]
• before 1400 – verb, to play on cymbals.^[7]
• 1728 – loosely, other musical instruments.^[7]
• 1852 – a stop on an organ.^[7]
• 1857 – slang, a watch.^[16]
• 1860 – a spongy cake or doughnut, in local American use.^[7]
• 1875 – figurative, after 1 Corinthians.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A slightly convex metal disc, either one of a pair clashed together or suspended and struck with a drumstick or wire brush: The drummer ended the song with a crash on the cymbal.^[10][17][7]
2. A stop on an organ.^[7]
3. (US, local) A spongy cake or doughnut.^[7]
4. (obsolete) Loosely, any of various other musical instruments.^[7][8]

Verb

1. (rare) To play on cymbals.^[8][7]

Word family

• cymbaleer
• cymbalist
• cymbaler
• cymballike

Related words

• chime
• cimbalom

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
13. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
14. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
17. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins