Clavicembalo - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

'CLAVICEMBALO, or GRA'Icembalo (from Lat. clavis, key, and cymbalum, cymbal; Eng. clavicymbal, clavisymbal; Flemish, clavisinbal; Span. clavisinbanos), a keyboard musical instrument with strings plucked by means of small quill or leather plectra. "Cymbal" (Gr. 3aXov, from a5 3n, a hollow vessel) was the old European term for the dulcimer, and hence its place in the formation of the word.

See Pianoforte; Spinet; Virginal.