Etymology
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
Jew's harp (plural Jew's harps)
- 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, 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."
Translations
musical instrument
- Afrikaans: trompie
- Atayal: lubuw, lubux
- Bashkir: ҡумыҙ (qumıź)
- Basque: musugitarra
- Binongan Itneg: kolibau
- Bulgarian: дръмбой m (drǎmboj)
- Catalan: arpa de boca f, guimbarda (ca) f
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 口簧琴 (zh) (kǒuhuángqín), 口弦 (zh) (kǒuxián)
- Corsican: riberbula f
- Czech: brumle f
- Danish: jødeharpe c, mundharpe c
- Dutch: mondharp (nl) f
- Estonian: parmupill
- Finnish: munniharppu (fi), suuharppu (fi), märistysrauta (fi)
- French: guimbarde (fr) f, campurgne f
- Galician: trompa (gl) f, berimbau (gl) m
- German: Maultrommel (de) f, Mundtrommel f, Maulgeige f, Brummeisen n, Judenharfe f
- Hawaiian: ʻukeke
- Hebrew: נבל פה (nevel pe)
- Hungarian: doromb (hu)
- Icelandic: gyðingaharpa f, kjálkaharpa f, munntromma f
- Iranun: please add this translation if you can
- Irish: trumpa
- Italian: scacciapensieri (it)
- Japanese: 口琴 (ja) (kōkin)
- Kaili:
- Da'a Kaili: yori
- Ledo Kaili: yori
- Unde Kaili: yori
- Kannada: ಮೋರ್ಸಿಂಗ್ (mōrsiṅg)
- Kazakh: шаңқобыз (şañqobyz)
- Korean: 주즈하프 (jujeuhapeu)
- Latvian: vargāns
- Lithuanian: dambrelis
- Macedonian: дромбула f (drombula)
- Maguindanao: kubing
- Maranao: kobing
- Mongolian: хэл хуур (xel xuur), аман хуур (aman xuur)
- Neapolitan: marranzano m
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: munnharpe m or f
- Nynorsk: munnharpe f
- Palawano:
- Brooke's Point Palawano: aroding
- Central Palawano: aroding
- Southwest Palawano: aroding
- Persian: زنبورک (fa) (zanburak)
- Polabian: brącai̯kə f
- Polish: drumla (pl) f
- Portuguese: harpa de boca f
- Romanian: drâmbă (ro) f
- Russian: варга́н (ru) m (vargán), хомус m (xomus)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: дромбуља f, брунда f
- Latin: drombulja (sh) f, brunda (sh) f
- Sicilian: marranzanu (scn) m, gangalarruni (scn) m, jancalarruni m
- Slovak: drumbľa f
- Slovene: dromlja (sl) f
- Sorbian:
- Lower Sorbian: brumejza f
- Southern Altai: комус (komus)
- Spanish: arpa de boca f, guimbarda f, birimbao m, arpa de boca f, torompe m (Argentina, Chile)
- Swedish: mungiga (sv) c, munharpa c
- Tagalog: birimbaw
- Tamil: மோர்சிங் (mōrciṅ)
- Toraja-Sa'dan: karombi
- Turkish: ağız kopuzu (tr)
- Tuvan: хомус (xomus)
- Ukrainian: дримба f (drymba), варґа́н m (vargán)
- Vietnamese: đàn môi
- Volapük: mudatrum (vo)
- Welsh: sturmant
- White Hmong: rab ncas
- Wolio: ore-ore mbondu, ore Ngkale
- Yakan: kulaing
- Yakut: хомус (qomus)
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References
Palmer, Abram Smythe (1882) Folk-Etymology, page 195 Honeychurch, William (2014) Inner Asia and the Spatial Politics of Empire, page 19 Timbs, John (1858) Things not generally Known. Popular Errors Explained and Illustrated, page 61
