In the "Oxford Companion to Music", originally published in 1938, but many editions since then, there's a short article about the banjo which intrigued me when I came across it recently.

"One of {the strings} is played by the thumb, as a melody string (thumb string or chanterelle), the others providing simple accompaniment chords."

Now that doesn't sound like any way of playing the banjo which I have come across - but it does correspond with one way of playing the mountain dulcimer. So I'm wondering if this is just a misunderstanding by the person writing the article, or of it does actually refer to some way that the banjo has been played.