[ Re-printed from Digest 96.02.10 ]

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