Wind or stringed instrument--Dan. 3:5

Some of the translations on the KJV-only view’s line of good Bibles vary in how they translate a word at Daniel 3:5. Wycliffe’s Bible has “sambuke,” Coverdale’s and Matthew’s Bibles have “shawmes,” Bishops’ Bible has “shawme,” and the Geneva and KJV have “sackbut.” Luther’s German Bible has “Geigen” [violin]. Which of these renderings on this line if any is the better or more accurate rendering of the Aramaic word sabbeka? Was the musical instrument according to the word in the original languages referring to a wind instrument or a stringed instrument?

 

The KJV seems to have got "sackbut" from the 1560 Geneva Bible. The only reason that I have found so far for the Geneva Bible's rendering is the following:

The Oxford English Dictionary noted: “Coverdale 1535 (for what reason is not clear) renders the word by shawmes, thus taking it to denote a wind instrument; the Geneva translators, accepting this view, seem to have chosen the rendering ‘sackbut’ on account to its resemblance in sound to the Aramaic word” (XIV, p. 333). Laurence Vance, a KJV-only author, wrote: “The word was first used by the Geneva Bible for the obscure instrument in Nebuchadnezzar’s band due to its resemblance in sound to the underlying Aramaic word” (Archaic Words, p. 296).

 

Several sources I have checked maintain that the word used here in the original languages referred to a stringed instrument. For example, Wilson’s O. T. Word Studies defined the word as “a stringed instrument of music having four strings” (p. 364). The Davis Dictionary of the Bible asserted that “the name is evidently identical with the Greek sambuke, which was an instrument of music somewhat like the harp or lyre, but with only four strings” (p. 702). The Encyclopaedia Judaica suggested that the word sabbekha at Daniel 3:5 was Aramaized version of the Greek word sambyke (Vol. 12, p. 565). Theological Wordbook of the O. T. pointed out that “it is not sure whether the Greek borrowed from the Semitic or vice versa” (II, p. 1075). Either way, the Aramaic word and the Greek word would be referring to the same musical instrument. M’Clintock and Strong noted that “the sambuca was a triangular instrument with four or more strings played with the fingers” (Cyclopaedia, IX, p. 211). The Ryrie Study Bible [KJV] described it as “a triangular instrument with four strings that played high notes” (p. 1271). Fairbairn’s Standard Bible Encyclopaedia affirmed that it “was a stringed instrument” (Vol. IV, p. 313). Young’s Analytical Concordance defined or described sabbeka as a “harp-like instrument” (p. 829). Bridges and Weigle maintained that the Aramaic word sabbeka “means a ’trigon,’ a triangular lyre or harp with four strings” (KJB Word Book, p. 294). In his commentary on Daniel, John Walvoord identified it as a stringed instrument (p. 84). The Liberty Annotated Study Bible [KJV] has a marginal note “lyre” for “sackbut” (p. 1274). Furthermore, even the definition and note in Waite’s Defined KJB acknowledged that the word in the original languages referred to “a triangular musical instrument with four strings, similar to a lyre” (p. 1170). The Oxford English Dictionary pointed out that the rendering sackbut “is a mistranslation of Aramaic sabbeka, which the LXX and Vulgate render (doubtless correctly) by Greek sambuke, Latin sambuca, the name of a stringed instrument” (XIV, p. 333).