Jew's harp

Meaning

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.

Synonyms

harmonica

harp

mouth organ

mouth harp

Translations

Maultrommel

birimbao

scacciapensieri

guimbarde

arpa de boca

mondharp

berimbau

armónica

guimbarda

torompe

قيثار_اليهود

berimbao

Mundharmonika

άρπα των Εβραίων

Etymology

Cognate with Old Norse: giga

Cognate with Swedish: giga

Cognate with Danish: gige

Cognate with German: Geige

Cognate with French: jeu-trompe

In summary

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 in 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”). Others have suggested a connection with jaws, the synonym jaw harp may have therefore come first. Other theories point to French jeu-trompe (literally “toy-trumpet”), compare Jew's-trump.