CHAPTER 3: History to 1800
3.5 The Baroque, Rococo and Classical Periods 1600-1800
3.5.1 The west
1.3. The Middle Class in the 17th & 18th centuries: England and the Colonies - 7 of 7
[191]
A single 18th century instrument survives, in York museum; it is a remarkable instrument, with no soundhole, but painted geometrically-drawn roses in lieu, and a bass extension on the left. The wrest-pins are somewhat uneven, but it seems that there were 14V treble courses, and three groups of bass courses, 7III, 6II and 1I; a single treble bridge remains, so that the instrument was presumably of type 13.2. The label identifies it as the work of George Waitball of Walsingham: an interesting early association with East Anglia.
We note in conclusion
that four different spellings of the name were used in this period: 'dulcimer',
'dulcimur', 'dulcimere' and 'dulcimore'; there must have been every shade
of pronunciation of course, as always, but three main terminal vowels seem
indicated: 
The
last form is an interesting link with pronunciation standard today in the
Appalachians, common in East Anglia, and occasionally heard in London. I
have written elsewhere that the Harley MS has the spelling 'dulcimor' (136)
but a closer examination of the writing shows that I had mistaken the 17thC.
'e' for an 'o'.
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