SYMPHONIA (Gr. o-vµcfrmvla)  , a much discussed word, applied at different times (1) to the bagpipe, (2) to the drum, (3) to the hurdy-gurdy, and finally (4) to a kind of clavichord . The sixth of the musical instruments enumerated in Dan. iii . 5, 10, 15, erroneously translated " dulcimer," in all probability refers to the bagpipe (q.v.) . Symphonia, signifying drum, occurs in the writings of Isidor of Seville . " Tympanum est pellis vel corium ligno ex una parte extentum . Est enim pars media symphoniae in similitudinem cribri . Tympanum autem dictum quod medium est . Unde, et margaritum medium tympanum dicitur, et ipsum ut symphonia ad virgulam percutitur." The reference comparing the tympanum (kettledrum) to half a pearl is borrowed from Pliny (Nat. hist . IX . 35, 23) . 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, spinet, regals and virginal, but without giving any clue to its distinctive characteristics .

(K .