The musical instrument that is most often translated as “tambourine,” “timbrel,” or “drum” in English is translated in the following ways:

• Laarim: “jingles” (source: Laarim Back Translation)
• Nyakyusa-Ngonde: “ngoma drum ” (source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
• Bariai: “kundu drum ” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
• Elhomwe: maasa (“a small drum, often with bells, which can be used while walking/dancing”) (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
• Natügu: “leg-rattles” (source: Brenda Boerger in Open Theology 2016, p. 179ff. )

In the UBS Helps for Translators‘ Human-made Things in the Bible (original title: The Works of Their Hands: Man-made Things in the Bible) it says the following:

Description: The drum consisted of a membrane, usually of animal skin, which was stretched over a shallow circular, triangular, or square frame.

Usage: The drum was struck sharply with one or two hands, depending on where it was situated. It could be held in the left hand, under the left arm, or against the chest and struck with the right hand, or it could be held on the knees or the ground and struck with one or two hands. The fingers of the left hand could be used to tighten or loosen the tension on the membrane as it was struck with the palm of the right hand.

Translation: The use of the Hebrew word tof is usually associated with singing, processions, and festivals. Archaeological evidence indicates that drums with metal circlets on the frame (“tambourines” or “timbrels”) were not known in biblical times. As a general rule, the best translation for this word will be “hand drum” or simply “drum.”

Lyre (source: Knowles, revised by Bass (c) British and Foreign Bible Society 1994)

Quoted with permission.