Marimba
The marimba in five languages — nearly the same word across all five
Related
Five languages
| Language | Name |
|---|---|
| Chinese | 马林巴 |
| English | marimba |
| Italian | marimba |
| German | Marimba |
| French | marimba |
The marimba is a wooden-bar keyboard percussion instrument with tuned resonator tubes under the bars, a warm tone and four-mallet playing. English, Italian and French all write marimba, German Marimba differs only in the capital; the word reached Europe through Bantu languages (a common account), and Chinese transliterates it.
Watch out: marimba and xylophone both have wooden bars, but the marimba's bars are wider, its range lower and resonators longer, while the xylophone is bright and short; the xylophone is often written an octave below sounding pitch while the marimba sounds as written, so they are not interchangeable.
Read deeper → Marimba
Sources
- 各语种乐器名与 marimba 的词源，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Marimba"；译名依通行音乐术语词典；本文为原创表述
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.