Scan 163
Researches into the early history of the violin family, 1883
14 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 153. See the scan on archive.org.
16. The Welsh crwth preserved longest the shape of the ancient lyre. Its strings were originally twanged, and the bow was adapted to the crwth at a later period than to the Anglo-Saxon fithele.
37. When it became the custom to use the bow with certain instruments, the strings of which were previously twanged, the shape of the instruments was gradually altered, so as to render them more suitable for the application of the bow.
58. The old method of twanging the strings of these instruments did not become obsolete; and, as the specimens which were thus played did not require any alteration of the shape, the same instrument was constructed in two or even more different shapes, according to its intended treatment.
79. As the bow was used especially with the kind of lyre which, according to mythological tradition, was originally made of a tortoise-shell (Greek, chelys; Latin, testudo; Old High German, chrota; Middle High German, krotte), and as this lyre was regarded as the principal and oldest kind of lyra, the name lyra was applied, in the course of time, to any stringed instrument played with a bow; while the name cithara was retained for instruments the strings of which were twanged.
910. Towards the end of the twelfth century, a modified rebec came into use in Central and North-western Europe, which was called gige (gigue, giga, &c.), and from which the word geige, one of the present German designations for the violin, has been derived.
1111. The construction of the hurdy-gurdy was suggested, about a thousand years ago, by the use of the fiddle-bow. The hurdy-gurdy was invented for the purpose of enabling the player to produce the friction of the strings, the correct intonation of the scale, and certain harmonious combinations, mechanically, and with greater facility and certainty than could possibly be achieved by means of the bow. In fact, the bow was still so rude and unmanageable a contrivance that the hurdy-gurdy appeared an improvement upon the fiddle.
1312. Our present instruments played with a bow attained
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