tintinnabulum

[tin-ti-nab-yuh-luhm]

noun

plural

tintinnabula 

1. a small, tinkling bell or a set of bells played in succession.

tintinnabulum

/ ˌtɪntɪˈnæbjʊləm /

noun

1. a small high-pitched bell

Word History and Origins

Origin of tintinnabulum¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; from Latin tintinnābulum “a bell,” derivative of tintinnāre “to ring, jangle,” reduplicated form of tintinnīre “to ring, jingle,” of imitative origin + -bulum noun suffix denoting instrument or vessel

Word History and Origins

Origin of tintinnabulum¹

C16: from Latin, from tintinnāre to tinkle, from tinnīre to ring; see _tinnitus

Example Sentences

More fluent but not less gloomy are the sacred lyrics of Ny�ki-Veres first published in 1636 under the Latin title of Tintinnabulum Tripudiantium.

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We should hardly reckon its author among our boasted treasures; yet Burns says "his elegies do honor to our language," and a great deal of the same guileless tintinnabulum did have its admirers all over England a century ago; and some of Shenstone's pretty wares have come drifting down on the wings of albums and anthologies fairly into our day.

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These small bells were known at Rome from the earliest times, and called from their sounds tintinnabulum.

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Hatton, writing in 1708, says that these figures were more admired on Sundays by the populace than the most eloquent preacher in the pulpit within; and Cowper, in his "Table Talk," cleverly compares dull poets to the St. Dunstan's giants:— "When labour and when dulness, club in hand, Like the two figures at St. Dunstan stand, Beating alternately, in measured time, The clock-work tintinnabulum of rhyme."

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Pistillo, Tintinnabulum, 2. intus Globulo ferreo, Crepitaculum, 3. circumversando; Crembalum, 4. ori admotum, Digito; Tympanum, 5.

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