"Tambourine" and "tabor" are certainly both derivatives of the same word, the former more recently through French though the instrument is Middle Eastern. The instruments themselves are very ancient. I see that the OED says about "tabor" that "the word is held to be of Oriental origin, and has been compared with Persian tabīrah, and tabūrāk, both meaning ‘drum’, and with Arabic ṭanbūr a kind of lute or lyre." Geoff On 24 November 2014 at 15:24, Norman Thornton <normanthornton@talktalk.net> wrote: > i liked the occupation tambouriner I thought what the heck how many bands > were there in Bathgate. In fact it is the frame you stretch linen across so > you can embroider it. There were a whole host of related trades in Bathgate > till the industrial revolution changed things. It looks like a tambourine. I > have met a tabor and wondered if there was a relationship. Norman Thornton