Origin and history of Tambo

late Old English, "the bony structure of the body; bones of the body collectively," plural of bone (n.). The extended sense of "basic outline or framework" (of a plot, etc.) is from 1888. As a colloquial way to say "dice," it is attested from late 14c. (dice anciently were made from the knucklebones of animals). As a nickname for "a surgeon," it dates to 1887, short for sawbones.

Formerly also "pieces of bone or ivory struck or rattled to accompany music" (1590s; compare marrow-bones and cleavers under cleaver (n.)). Hence the nickname Bones for one of the end-men in a minstrel ensemble.

The figurative phrase make bones about "take exception to, be unable to swallow" (mid-15c.) refers to fish bones found in soup, etc. To feel something in (one's) bones "have a presentiment" is 1867, American English. 

"parchment-covered hoop with pieces of metal attached used as a drum," 1782; earlier "small drum" (1570s), apparently from French tambourin, which meant "long narrow drum used in Provence," but the modern sense is that of French tambour de basque (see below). It is a diminutive of tambour "drum," a word altered from Old French tabour (see tabor) by influence of Arabic tunbur, the name of a kind of lute or guitar.

The Arabic word itself turns up in English as tamboura (1580s), the name of a long-necked lute of the Balkans and Near East. The sense evolution presents some difficulty, and in 17c. and early 18c. it is sometimes difficult to say what sort of instrument is intended.

Earlier names in English for it were tambour de basque (1680s), also timbre and timbrel. Tambour itself is attested in English from late 15c., and Shakespeare has tabourine.