sambuca¹

[sam-byoo-kuh]

noun

Also sam·buke [sam-byook] /ˈsæm byuk/. an ancient stringed musical instrument used in Greece and the Near East.
a medieval hurdy-gurdy.

Origin of sambuca¹

1350–1400; Middle English sambuke < Latin sambūca < Greek sambȳ́kē perhaps < Semitic; compare Aramaic sabbəkhā

[sam-boo-kuh; Italian sahm-boo-kah]

noun

1970–75; < Italian, feminine derivative of sambuco elder < Latin sa(m)būcus

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

A man with a table, Sambuca and Acqua-vita bottles on it, and wee glasses, one cent a drink: melodrama.
The Continental Monthly, Vol. 3, No. 1 January 1863
Various
The sambuca seems to have been a large harp, which rested on the ground, like the harps of the Egyptians.
The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 4. (of 7): Babylon
George Rawlinson
Among them are the Psaltery of various shapes, the Sambuca or sackbut, the single and double Chorus, &c.
Scenes and Characters of the Middle Ages
Edward Lewes Cutts

Italian liqueur resembling anisette, 1971, from Italian, from Latin sambucus "elder tree."