Word.ws English Dictionary

tromba marina

tromba marina noun: a Middle Ages European string instrument with a long, slender and triangular-shaped body, featuring one main string and sometimes additional sympathetic strings, known for an extremely loud sound making it useful for signalling between ships, and for a distinctive ethereal tone (harmonic overtones) created by the player fingering the string at precise intervals below the point where the string is to be bowed, rather than above as most similar instruments.

Noun

tromba marina (plural trombas marina)

  1. A Middle Ages European string instrument with a long, slender and triangular-shaped body, featuring one main string and sometimes additional sympathetic strings, known for an extremely loud sound making it useful for signalling between ships, and for a distinctive ethereal tone (harmonic overtones) created by the player fingering the string at precise intervals below the point where the string is to be bowed, rather than above as most similar instruments.

Synonyms of tromba marina

Forms of tromba marina

pluraltrombas marina

Origin of tromba marina

From Italian, meaning "marine trumpet". * The tromba may originate in a comparison to the valveless trumpet of the Middle Ages, which produced harmonic overtones like the tromba marina, or as a reference to the unique trumpet-like rasping sound created by the intentionally loose bridge of the instrument vibrating against its face. The marina may refer to the Virgin Mary, perhaps because the instrument was played by nuns in convents.

Words formed from tromba marina

Questions about tromba marina

What does tromba marina mean?
Tromba marina means a Middle Ages European string instrument with a long, slender and triangular-shaped body, featuring one main string and sometimes additional sympathetic strings, known for an extremely loud sound making it useful for signalling between ships, and for a distinctive ethereal tone (harmonic overtones) created by the player fingering the string at precise intervals below the point where the string is to be bowed, rather than above as most similar instruments.
What part of speech is tromba marina?
Tromba marina is a noun.
What is the plural of tromba marina?
The plural of tromba marina is trombas marina.

Words near tromba marina in the dictionary

  1. trolnitrate
  2. Trololo
  3. Trolox
  4. Tromans
  5. tromantadine
  6. tromba marina
  7. tromba marinist
  8. tromba marinists
  9. trombas marina
  10. trombe
  11. Trombe wall

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tromba marina (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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