the.com/fiddle
A violin that finally stopped pretending it doesn't want to make you dance.
means To fidget or tinker with something restlessly, often pointlessly; also a casual name for a violin.
from From Old English 'fithele,' the everyday word for a bowed string instrument, with cousins across the Germanic languages (German 'Fiedel,' Old Norse 'fiðla'). It likely traces back, through a tangled medieval path, to the same Latin source — 'vitula' or the verb 'vitulari,' 'to celebrate, make merry' — that also gave us the loftier 'violin.' So 'fiddle' and 'violin' are two branches of one tree, one wearing boots, the other a tuxedo. The 'restless fidgeting' sense bloomed later, from the busy, twitchy motion of a fiddler's fingers.
- Same wood
- Fiddle and violin are physically identical instruments
- Devil's deal
- Folklore casts it as Satan's favorite instrument
- Roman myth
- Nero couldn't have fiddled; it wasn't invented yet
- Tuning tricks
- Players retune strings for eerie open drones
- Flatter bridge
- Some fiddlers shave bridges for faster string-hopping
stradivarius violin — handcrafted italian instruments from 1644-1737 by antonio stradivari, worth millions at auction
cremona violin making — italian city that produced the world's finest violins including guarneri and amati instruments since the 1500s
bluegrass fiddle competition — weir farm national historic site in connecticut hosts annual competitions; the grand ole opry in nashville features fiddle prominently