Wiktionary

Jew's harp

English edit

 
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Jew's harp
 
A modern jew's harp

Alternative forms edit

Variant spellings

Etymology edit

The word harp is often applied to a wide variety of instruments in English, including many (such as this one) that are not "harps" in the most specific sense. The origin of Jew's is uncertain, it is widely accepted that the instrument has no musicological or etymological connection with Jews and the word was capitalized due to the mistaken belief of a connection. Some have connected it to the Cleveland dialectal gew-gaw, related to the Old Norse giga, compare modern Swedish giga, Danish gige, German Geige (“fiddle”).[1] Others have suggested a connection with jaws,[2] the synonym jaw harp may have therefore come first. Other theories point to French jeu-trompe (literally “toy-trumpet”),[3] compare Jew's-trump.

Noun edit

Jew's harp (plural Jew's harps)

  1. A musical instrument consisting of a flexible metal or bamboo “tongue” attached to a frame. This tongue is placed in the performer's mouth and plucked with the finger to produce a note of constant pitch. Melodies can be created by changing the shape of the mouth and causing different overtones.
    • 1850, T. S. Arthur, “Deacon Smith and his Violin”, in Sketches of Life and Character‎[1], Philadelphia: J. W. Bradley, →OCLC, page 70:
      The lad, his son, had obtained a Jew's-harp, and learned to play upon it the profane airs of "Yankee Doodle," "Hail Columbia," "St. Patrick's Day," and "Auld Lang Syne."

Synonyms edit

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References edit

  1. ^ Palmer, Abram Smythe (1882) Folk-Etymology, page 195
  2. ^ Honeychurch, William (2014) Inner Asia and the Spatial Politics of Empire, page 19
  3. ^ Timbs, John (1858) Things not generally Known. Popular Errors Explained and Illustrated, page 61

Anagrams edit

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