Likely from Middle Dutch 'tromme,' onomatopoeic for a drumbeat — replacing theolderEnglishword 'tabor' in the 1500s.
Definition
A percussion instrument consisting of a hollow body with a membrane stretched across one or both ends, sounded by being struck.
The Full Story
Middle Dutch/Middle Low German1540swell-attested
Probably from Middle Dutch 'tromme' or Middle Low German 'trumme' (drum), of onomatopoeic origin — theword mimics the deep, resonant sound of a drumbeat: 'trum, trum, trum.' The English form 'drum' first appeared in the mid-sixteenth century and replaced the older native word 'tabor' (from Old French 'tabour,' itself probably of Arabic origin 'ṭunbūr' or Persian 'tabīr'). Some scholars connect the Germanic drum words to Old High German 'trumba' (trumpet), suggesting a shared onomatopoeic origin for loud percussive and blown
Did you know?
Before Englishadopted 'drum' from Dutch in the 1540s, the common English word for the instrument was 'tabor,' borrowed from French. The switch happened during the same period that English military tactics were being modernized along Continental lines, and soldiers brought back the Dutch-German word along with Dutch-German drumming techniques.
independently within Germanic from sound symbolism. This is common for musical instrument names: they tend to arise from imitation rather than inheritance. The figurative uses of 'drum' — to drum up support (to summon by beating a drum), to drum something into someone (to teach by repetition, like repeated drumbeats), drumroll, the 'eardrum' (tympanic membrane, which vibrates like a drum skin) — all preserve the acoustic and rhythmic core of the word. The military association is ancient: drums were battlefield communication instruments before they were musical ones. Key roots: *trummō (Proto-Germanic: "drum, from onomatopoeic origin imitating a beating sound").