:''See

Rotte (lyre) :''See Rotte (psaltery) for the medieval psaltery, or Crwth, Rote for the fiddle'' Rotte or rotta is a historical name for the List of early Germanic peoples, Germanic lyre, used in northwestern Europe in the early medieval period (circa 450 A.D ...

'' The tiompán ( Irish), tiompan (

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...

), or timpan ( Welsh) was a stringed

musical instrument A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make Music, musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person ...

used by musicians in medieval

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

. The word 'timpán' was of both masculine and feminine

gender Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...

in classical Irish. It is theorised to derive from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word 'tympanum' (

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, thoug ...

kettle drum Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally ...

) and 'timpán' does appear to be used in certain ancient texts to describe a

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

. Drum names applied to stringed instruments is not unheard of, such as tambour owing its name ultimately to the

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

تنبور (tambūr). Both Tympanum and Tambūr could be cognate with πανδοῦρα (pandoûra). However, the tiompán is also thought to have been a kind of lyre, others contest it was a long-necked lute. Medieval writings on the tiompan have listed it as distinguished from "nine-stringed cruits", and that the tiompan commonly had three strings. These sources also make references to the tips and sides of the fingers being used on the strings, likely to stop them to produce higher notes. Whether all strings were stopped or just the top string, as with sitar or saz playing, is unknown. Sources give reference to the strings being metal, often bronze, and given the period to which tiompans are extant, resonating the strings by plucking is more likely than by bowing them. There is a high chance the name was reapplied to other intstruments during the Early Modern Period. The adjective "timpánach" referred to a performer on the instrument but is also recorded in one instance in the ''Dánta Grádha'' as describing a cruit. The feminine

noun In grammar, a noun is a word that represents a concrete or abstract thing, like living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, and ideas. A noun may serve as an Object (grammar), object or Subject (grammar), subject within a p ...

"timpánacht" referred to the art or practice of playing the tiompán. In modern Irish traditional music, the word tiompan was used by Derek Bell, after

Francis William Galpin Francis William Galpin (December 25, 1858 December 30, 1945) was an English cleric and antiquarian musicologist. He was known as a collector of old musical instruments. Life Born in Dorchester, Dorset, Galpin was educated at Sherborne and Trini ...

's theories, to refer to the

hammered dulcimer The hammered dulcimer (also called the hammer dulcimer) is a percussion-string instrument which consists of String (music), strings typically stretched over a trapezoidal resonant sound board (music), sound board. The hammered dulcimer is set bef ...

. Other hypothesised reproductions resemble the Welsh

Crwth :''See Rotte (psaltery), Rotte for the psaltery, or Rotte (lyre), Rotte for the plucked lyre.'' The crwth ( , ), also called a crowd or rote or crotta, is a bowed lyre, a type of string instrument, stringed instrument, associated particularly w ...

, and the ancient Greek and Roman

Pandura The pandura (, ''pandoura'') or pandore, an ancient Greek string instrument, belonged in the broad class of the lute and guitar instruments. Akkadian Empire, Akkadians played similar instruments from the 3rd millennium BC. Ancient Greece, Ancien ...

. Recorded players included

Maol Ruanaidh Cam Ó Cearbhaill Maol Ruanaidh Cam Ó Cearbhaill, otherwise ''An Giolla Caoch'' and ''Cam Ó Cearbhaill'', sometimes anglicised as Cam O'Kayrwill (died 10 June 1329) was a notable Irish harpist and player of the tiompan, murdered with many others at the Bragan ...

(murdered 1329).

Finn Ó Haughluinn Finn Ó Haughluinn, Irish musician, died 1490. Ó Haughluinn is described in his obituary in the Annals of the Four Masters as ''Chief Tympanist of Ireland.'' No further details of his life are given or are known to survive. His obit was one of ...

(died 1490) was the last recorded player of the instrument.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:An Tiompan Gaidhealach Composite chordophones Medieval history of Ireland Culture of medieval Scotland Harps Irish musical instruments Music of Scotland