NYCKELHARPA (Swed. nyckel =

See also:

• KEY
• KEY (in O. Eng. tang; the ultimate origin of the word is unknown; it appears only in Old Frisian kei of other Teutonic languages; until the end of the 17th century the pronunciation was kay, as in other words in O. Eng. ending in aeg; cf. daeg, day; clang
• KEY (the phraseograms being indicated by hyphens)
• KEY, SIR ASTLEY COOPER (1821-1888)
• KEY, THOMAS HEWITT (1799-1875)

key, harpa=

See also:

• HARP (Fr. harpe; Ger. Harfe; Ital. arpa)

harp; Ger. Schlusselfiedel)  , a kind of bowed hurdy-gurdy, much used in Scandinavia during the late middle ages, and still in use in some parts of Sweden . It consists of a body some 2 ft. long, shaped like an elongated viol, with sloping shoulders and highly arched sound-board glued over a less arched back, and ribs cut out of a single block of wood . There is no fingerboard, but along the neck, arranged like frets, are a number of keys or wooden tangents, which when pressed inwards bring a little knob or stud into contact with the first string of thin catgut, thus stopping it and raising the pitch as in the hurdy-gurdy . At three points these keys also act upon the third string . There are in the comparatively modern instruments usually four melody strings of catgut and three drones of fine spun wire . The bridge is quite flat, so that when the bow is passed over the strings, they all sound at once . The tailpiece is very long, extending over half the length of the body, and the two oval sound-holes, far removed from the strings, are at the tail end of the instrument .