Jew's harp

Jew's harp

English

Alternative forms

Variant spellings

• jewsharp
• jewes harp
• Jewes-harp (dated)
• Jewes harp (dated)
• jew harp
• Jews'-harp
• Jews' harp
• jews'-harp
• Jew's-harp
• Jews harp
• jew's harp
• jews harp
• jews-harp
• Jews-harp
• juice harp
• jaw harp
• jaw's harp
• jaws harp
• jaws' harp
• Jaws'-harp
• jaws-harp
• Jaws-harp

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. Some have connected it to the Cleveland dialectal gew-gaw, related to the Old Norse giga (compare modern Swedish giga)[1]. Others have suggested it derives from an early English or German word jue or jaws. [2] The synonym jaw harp may have therefore come first. Other theories point to French jeu (play), perhaps from jeu-trump (a trump, or toy, with which to play). It is widely accepted that the instrument has no musicological or etymological connection to the Jews, but the word was probably capitalized due to the mistaken belief of a connection.

Noun

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.

Jew’s harp

A modern jew’s harp

Synonyms

• guimbarde
• mouth harp
• mouth organ
• Jew's-trump and trump
• Judaic harp

Derived terms

• Jew's harpist

Translations

musical instrument

Atayal: lubuw, lubux Bashkir: ҡумыҙ (qumıð) 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 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) 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 (xomus)

References

1. Folk-Etymology. Pg. 195.
2. 2014. Inner Asia and the Spatial Politics of Empire. William Honeychurch. Pg. 19.

Anagrams

• jew harps