Introduction

There are two west Asian wander words for musical instruments: *pandVr- and tabVr-. *pandVr- mostly means a stringed instrument, and tabVr- mostly means a kind of drum, but that is not consistent.

The *p-d and *t-b could possibly be metathesis of place of articulation, while leaving voicing in place. (I swear I knew some other examples of feature metathesis, but I can't track them down at the moment.)

*pandVr- vs. tabVr- is reminiscent of Greek bénthos vs buthós vs. the expected **thubos reflex of Proto-Indo-European *dʰewb-: "deep, hollow", with metathesis and prenasalization variants. Which in turn makes me think of the "language of the geminates" substrate.

Overall, the level of similarity probably wouldn't convince me to present them together, except that word "tambourine" (Middle Persian tmbwr) seems to conflate (rejoin?) the two.

tympani and timbre are probably not best explained as part of these families, but as from Greek τύπτω túptō: "to beat, to strike", which has well established PIE cognates: Sanskrit tópati, OCS tŭpati, Latin stupēre, etc.

Teaser

banjo, mandolin, tambourine

Full Text

• Substrate?

  • Substrate *pandVr-

    • Armenian փանդիր pʿandir
    • Classical Greek πανδοῦρα pandoûra

      • Georgian ფანდური panduri

        • English panduri
      • Late Latin pandūra

        • English pandura
        • French pandore

          • English pandore
        • Vulgar Latin *pandurium

          • Western Romance

            • Spanish bandurria

              • English bandurria
              • English bandore

                • English banjo
        • Vulgar Latin *mandula

          • Central Romance

            • Italian mandola

              • English mandola
              • Italian mandolino

                • English mandolin
        • Polish bandura

          • Ukrainian банду́ра bandúra

            • English bandura
      • Scythian pandur

        • Ossetian фӕндыр fændɨr ^[1]
      • Middle Persian 𐭲𐭬𐭯𐭥𐭫 tmbwr ^[2]

        • Persian تنبور tanbur tanbur

          • English tanbur
          • Ottoman Turkish طنبوره tanbura

            • Greek ταμπουράς tampourás tambura
            • Serbo-Croatian та̀мбура tàmbura

              • Serbo-Croatian ​​тамбурица tamburica

                • English tamburica
              • Hungarian tambura tambura
        • Uyghur تەمبۈر tembür tanbur

          • Mandarin 彈撥爾 tánbō'ěr
        • Arabic طنبور ṭunbūr tanbur

          • Ottoman Turkish طنبور tambur tanbur

            • Turkish tambur
            • French tambour

              • Dutch tamboer
              • English tambour
              • Serbo-Croatian tàmbūr drum, tambour
              • French tambourin

                • English tambourine
            • Romanian tambură tanbur
  • Substrate *tabVr-

    • Iranian *tabir

      • Western Iranian

        • Northwestern Iranian

          • Parthian 𐫎𐫁𐫏𐫓 ṯbyl

            • Arabic طبل ṭabl
            • Ottoman Turkish طاول davul

              • Turkish davul drum
            • Hindi तबला tablā

              • English tabla
            • Koine Greek ταβάλα tabála Parthian drum Hesychius
            • Old Armenian տաւիղ tawił ten-stringed harp
        • Old Persian

          • Middle Persian *tabir

            • Persian تبیر tabir drum
            • Middle Persian 𐭲𐭬𐭯𐭥𐭫 tmbwr ^[2]

              • Persian تنبور tanbur tanbur

                • English tanbur
                • Ottoman Turkish طنبوره tanbura

                  • Greek ταμπουράς tampourás tambura
                  • Serbo-Croatian та̀мбура tàmbura

                    • Serbo-Croatian ​​тамбурица tamburica

                      • English tamburica
                    • Hungarian tambura tambura
              • Uyghur تەمبۈر tembür tanbur

                • Mandarin 彈撥爾 tánbō'ěr
              • Arabic طنبور ṭunbūr tanbur

                • Ottoman Turkish طنبور tambur tanbur

                  • Turkish tambur
                  • French tambour

                    • Dutch tamboer
                    • English tambour
                    • Serbo-Croatian tàmbūr drum, tambour
                    • French tambourin

                      • English tambourine
                  • Romanian tambură tanbur

Visual

Collected English words

panduri, pandura, pandore, bandurria, bandore, banjo, mandola, mandolin, bandura, tanbur, tamburica, tambour, tambourine, tabla

Footnotes

1. ^

   Ossetian фӕндыр fændɨr must have been borrowed before Ossetians p to f sound change.

   The word фӕндыр is in the title Ирон Фӕндыр Iron Fændɨr: "The Ossetian Lyre" (foundational piece of Ossetian national literature by Kosta Khetagurov)

2. ^

   Middle Persian 𐭲𐭬𐭯𐭥𐭫 tmbwr looks like either a metathesis of *pandur or nasalization of *tabir. It may be a conflation of the two.