timbrel, tabret Summary and Overview

(Heb. toph). In old English tabor was used for any drum. Tabouret and tambourine are diminutives of tabor, and denote the instrument now known as the tambourine. Tabret is a contraction of tabouret. The Hebrew toph is undoubtedly the instrument described by travellers as the duff or diff of the Arabs. It was played principally by women, #Ex 15:20; Jud 11:34; 1Sa 18:6; Ps 68:25| as an accompaniment to the song and dance. The diff of the Arabs is described by Russell as "a hoop (sometimes with pieces of brass fixed in it to make a jingling) over which a piece of parchment is stretched. It is beaten with the fingers, and is the true tympanum of the ancients." In Barbary it is called tar.