BUMBULUM

bumbulum, bombulum or bunibulum, a fabulous musical instrument described in an apocryphal letter of st jerome to dardanus,[1] and illustrated in a series of illuminated mss. of the 9th to the 11th century, together with other instruments described in the same letter. these mss. are the _psalter of emmeran_, 9th century, described by martin gerbert,[2] who gives a few illustrations from it; the cotton ms. _tiberius c. vi._ in the british museum, 11th century; the famous _boulogne psalter_, a.d. 1000; and the _psalter of angers_, 9th century.[3] in the cotton ms. the instrument consists of an angular frame, from which depends by a chain a rectangular metal plate having twelve bent arms attached in two rows of three on each side, one above the other. the arms appear to terminate in small rectangular bells or plates, and it is supposed that the standard frame was intended to be shaken like a sistrum in order to set the bells jangling. sebastian virdung[4] gives illustrations of these instruments of jerome, and among them of the one called bumbulum in the cotton ms., which virdung calls _fistula hieronimi_. the general outline is the same, but instead of metal arms there is the same number of bent pipes with conical bore. virdung explains, following the apocryphal letter, that the stand resembling the draughtsman's square represents the holy cross, the rectangular object dangling therefrom signifies christ on the cross, and the twelve pipes are the twelve apostles. virdung's illustration, probably copied from an older work in manuscript, conforms more closely to the text of the letter than does the instrument in the cotton ms. there is no evidence whatever of the actual existence of such an instrument during the middle ages, with the exception of this series of fanciful pictures drawn to illustrate an instrument known from description only. the word _bombulum_ was probably derived from the same root as the [greek: bombaulios] of aristophanes (_acharnians_, 866) ([greek: bombos] and [greek: aulos]), a comic compound for a bag-pipe with a play on [greek: bombulios], an insect that hums or buzzes (see bag-pipe). the original described in the letter, also from hearsay, was probably an early type of organ. (k. s.) [1] _ad dardanum, de diversis generibus musicorum instrumentorum._ [2] _de cantu et musica sacra_ (1774). [3] for illustrations see _annales archeologiques_, iii. p. 82 et seq. [4] _musica getutscht und aussgezogen_ (basle, 1511).