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Chris -- 2018-04-11

#1 2014-08-01 13:29:49

Peter Forster
Eggcornista
From: UK
Registered: 2006-09-06
Posts: 1222

'board psaltery' for 'bowed psaltery'

The psaltery is an ancient instrument but the bowed version dates from the 20th century. The latter is of course played with a bow, but like many similar instruments is undeniably made from wooden boards. Despite there also being several examples of ‘bode psaltery’ I think there’s still a reasonable chance of eggcornish interpretation at play here:

I’m going to be messing with my board psaltery this afternoon and I want to replace some of the bass strings with chords.

I’ve been playing various autoharps for many years, but had luthier Peter Cox make me a board psaltery with 24 strings.

227 A BOARD PSALTERY WITH BOX. 228 A BOX CONTAINING A WINSTON CHURCHILL MEDIUM SIZED TOBY JUG AND TWO SHIPS IN …

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#2 2014-08-01 23:16:41

kem
Eggcornista
From: Victoria, BC
Registered: 2007-08-28
Posts: 2851

Re: 'board psaltery' for 'bowed psaltery'

We’re getting a fair-sized list of musical eggcorns. Achordeon, bacharole, constant reframe, crashendo, finally (finale), grudge band, plucktrum, repetoire, gambit (gamut), shrill of bagpipes, tintinnitus.


Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.

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#3 2014-08-02 03:31:13

Dixon Wragg
Eggcornista
From: Cotati, California
Registered: 2008-07-04
Posts: 1375

Re: 'board psaltery' for 'bowed psaltery'

kem wrote:

We’re getting a fair-sized list of musical eggcorns. Achordeon, bacharole, constant reframe, crashendo, finally (finale), grudge band, plucktrum, repetoire, gambit (gamut), shrill of bagpipes, tintinnitus.

Don’t forget “base” for “bass”, which is in the Eggcorn Databass.

And how about “Stickato”?

The left one is sustain, The middle on makes it more Stickato, and the right one softens the notes
Q&A site

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#4 2014-08-02 07:55:46

David Bird
Eggcornista
From: The Hammer, Ontario
Registered: 2009-07-28
Posts: 1690

Re: 'board psaltery' for 'bowed psaltery'

The bowed psaltery has etymological roots which anastomose with psalmody, David’s sacred chord, and to feel. And maybe those passionate evocative strokes, the heat, the humidity and the titillation of strings hark back for some to the steamy rooftop bather who was my tocayo’s downfall.

The digeridoo goes a little long, the bowed sultry is worth the wait.
youtube critique

string demo session. A round the world tour of all my stringed instruments including the hammered dulcimer, the bowed sultry and the Swedish nyckelharpa
music offer

Dulcimer Magic. Hear Appalachian music played on dulcimer and bowed sultry, plus try playing one.
History weekend

The instrument she plays on this track is a Bowed Sultry.
Radio CD description

Last edited by David Bird (2014-08-02 07:58:04)

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#5 2014-08-02 09:50:53

kem
Eggcornista
From: Victoria, BC
Registered: 2007-08-28
Posts: 2851

Re: 'board psaltery' for 'bowed psaltery'

Don’t forget “base” for “bass”, which is in the Eggcorn Databass.

“Base/bass” sneaked into the Database from a Language Log post that mentioned it in passing.

It may not be an eggcorn. If it is an eggcorn, it is not a very good one. “Bass” is a minor spelling variant of the older “base” that got some traction in England during the Renaissance, when Italian music masters descended on the northern island in droves. These Mediterranean philanderers teachers used the Italian “basso” for the lower range male voice and before long would-be sophisticates were spelling (but not pronouncing) the cognate English “base” as “bass.” The Italianized version of the musical term was only an alternative spelling until the mid nineteenth century. Music instruction books published in the early decades of the American republic commonly referred to the “base voice.” See the Google Ngram chart comparing “base voice” and “bass voice” (“base voice” is amplified on the timeline by a factor of five to show the takeoff point for “bass” in the post 1820 period). By the Civil War, “bass” had won the spelling contest. For the last century and a half, writing “base voice” for “bass voice” has been a correction-worthy mistake.

Last edited by kem (2014-08-02 09:51:55)


Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.

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