Bob Conant described an interesting instrument built by a friend
(Digest 960201), which creates music using hand-cranked "bowing
wheels".  It appears to me that "hurdy-gurdy" (and that's the
proper spelling, too) is indeed the proper name!

A recent book from the Black Forest relates the origins of these
instruments and their various names:  (Translated from "Waldkirch
Barrel and Fair Organs", by Herbert Juettemann, pp. 17-18, copyright
1993 by Waldkirch Publishing.)

> The small, light-weight and easily-transported organ with a crank,
> which one carries or sets on a cart, has several well-known
> designations.  Especially popular is the name "Leierkasten", or
> "Lyre-box".

> But really this is improper: the term "Leierkasten" actually comes
> from the hand-cranked player violin carried by minstrels in the
> Middle Ages.  There aren't any pipes -- the only thing it has in
> common with the barrel organ is the crank!

   { The accompanying illustration shows an ancient lute-like    }
   { violin fitted with a bowing wheel, frets and push-buttons;  }
   { it bears a remarkable resemblance to a Mills Violana, and   }
   { also to the "Arthur Godfrey Push-button Ukulele" advertised }
   { on the radio in the 1940's!                                 }

> The more meaningful name is therefore "Drehorgel", or "Crank-
> organ".  To differentiate from the smaller weight-driven flute-
> clocks seen in residences, one speaks also of the "Handdrehorgel",
> or "hand-cranked-organ", and for further differentiation from home
> organs one speaks of "Strassendrehorgel", or simply "Street-
> organ".

> In France it was called the "Orgue de Barbarie", the "Organ of
> Barbary".  One theory holds that the name comes from association
> with Giovanni Barberi of Modena, who lived around 1700 and built
> small barrel organs.  Another theory suggests that the barrel
> organ originated in Italy and was introduced in France and Germany
> by Italian traveling musicians.

> More likely, though, is that the term is a derivative of the
> common French word "Barberie", used by the sailors to signify
> merchandise or anything else from a different land.  Swiss author
> Helmut Zeraschi, in "Dreyhorgeln" (1976), remarks that the little
> organ may be of neither French nor Italian origin, but might have
> been a German invention.

   { "Barbarie" survives in English as the "Coast of Barbary", and }
   { that's presumably where your local hair-cutter came from!     }
   { Fortunately for your tonsils, your barber isn't a _Barbarian_ }
   { anymore, even though he/she may be from another land.         }

> In Austria it's called "Werkel", in the Netherlands "Draaiorgel",
> and in England, as long as it has a pinned-cylinder, it's the
> "Hand Cranked Barrel Organ".

Well, that's the background.  My "Webster's New International
Dictionary" of 1930 (weight: 16 pounds!) defines a hurdy-gurdy
as the same hand-cranked-violin "Leierkaste" which Juetteman
describes, and also as "any instrument, especially of street music,
played by turning a handle."  The name 'hurdy-gurdy' is "probably of
imitative origin," it says, implying that the name imitates the
sound of the machine.

What do you call the sound of your friend's instrument, Bob?!

-- Robbie Rhodes