Symphonia (Greek συμφωνία) is a much-discussed word, applied at different times to the bagpipe, the drum, the hurdy-gurdy, and finally a kind of clavichord. The sixth of the musical instruments enumerated in Book of Daniel, Daniel 3 (verses 5, 10 and 15), is erroneously translated "dulcimer"; in all probability it refers to the bagpipe.[1]
The symphonia, signifying drum, is mentioned in Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae under the entries for tympanum and sambuca.[1] The reference comparing the tympanum (kettledrum) to half a pearl is borrowed from Pliny.[2]
"Symphonia" or chifonie was applied during the 13th and 14th centuries, in the Latin countries more especially, to the hurdy-gurdy. "Symphonia" is applied by Praetorius to an instrument which he classed with the clavichord,[3] spinet, regal and virginals, but without giving any clue to its distinctive characteristics.[1]
Schlesinger, Kathleen (1911). "Symphonia". In Chisholm, Hugh. Encyclopædia Britannica. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 289.