Scan 130
Researches into the early history of the violin family, 1883
15 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 120. See the scan on archive.org.
1in its outward appearance, and also in its name. To follow its history until the present day, all over Western Europe, from Spain to Iceland, does not come within the scope of our present research, and would require much space. However, an enumeration of the most common designations of this instrument, all supposed to have been derived from the Latin fidicula, may afford some useful hints. It will be observed that the original name has become especially euphonious with nations in the south of Europe, thus:—
3Fidicula, Latin; fidula, Old High German; vitula, mediæval Latin; videle, Middle High German; fithele, Anglo-Saxon; figella, fitola, late mediæval Latin; viguéla, vihuela, Spanish; vièle, vielle, viole, French; fidla, fiol, Norwegian; fiedel, violine, German; fiddle, violin, English; viola, violetta, violino, violono, Italian.
5This list might be greatly enlarged, especially if notice were taken of the numerous names which have been coined to indicate certain characteristics of varieties; as, for instance, viola-da-gamba, viola-di-bordone, violoncello, viola-di-spalla, &c.
7As regards the opinion of some musical writers, according to which the term viol is derived from the Latin phiala (Italian, fiàla; French, phiole; English, phial, also written vial), designating a bottle, the opinion has scarcely any foundation to support it, except the circumstance of an oval bottle with a long neck having some resemblance in shape to a fiddle.
9The original method of sounding the strings of the viol by twanging them has never entirely fallen into disuse in its supposed offspring. The fidula mentioned by Otfried in his "Evangelienharmonie" ("Harmony of the Gospels"), about the year 860, was most likely thus played. The passage in which it is mentioned is as follows:—
11Sih thas ouh al ruarît thaz organa fuerit,
12Lira, ioh fidula, ioh managfaltu suegala.
14(There all are active who carry instruments, Lyre, fiddle, and different flutes.)
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