[In quot. 1653 a. obs. F. tantan ‘the bell that hangs about the necke of a cow’ (Cotgr.): in earlier F. also tentan, tenten, -tent; in quot. 1893 purely echoic.] Name for a bell; also applied to the sound of a kettle-drum.
1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, I. xvii. They would serve very well for tingling Tantans and ringing Campanels.
1893. J. Howland, in Mission. Herald (Boston), Aug., 341. The droning sound of … a rude kind of flute, and the monotonous tan-tan of a drum.
