Editing Jew's harp (section)

==Etymology==
There are many theories for the origin of the name ''jew's harp''. The apparent reference to Jewish people is especially misleading since it "has nothing to do with the Jewish people; neither does it look like a harp in its structure and appearance".<ref name="jews-harps.com">{{Cite web|url=https://jews-harps.com/name-origin-history/|title = Jew's harp origin history &#124; Glazyrin's jew's harps|website=Jews-harps.com|date = 18 April 2019}}</ref> In Sicilian it is translated as {{Lang|scn|marranzanu}} or {{Lang|scn|mariolu}}; both of which are derogatory terms for Jewish people also found in Italian<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.etimo.it/?term=marrano| title=Etimologia : Marrano|website=Etimo.it}}</ref> and Spanish.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.elalmanaque.com/lexico/marrano.htm|title=LÉXICO - ETIMOLOGIAS - ORIGEN DE LAS PALABRAS - MARRANO|website=Elalmanaque.com}}</ref> In German, it is known as {{Lang|de|Maultrommel}}, which translates directly to 'mouth drum'.<ref name="jews-harps.com"/> The name "Jew's Harp" first appears in 1481 in a customs account book under the name "Jue harpes".<ref>{{Cite book |last=WRIGHT |first=MICHAEL |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1156990682 |title=JEWS-HARP IN BRITAIN AND IRELAND. |date=2020 |publisher=ROUTLEDGE |isbn=978-0-367-59749-8 |location=[S.l.] |oclc=1156990682}}</ref> The "jaw" variant is attested at least as early as 1774<ref>Miscellaneous and Fugitive pieces, vol. 3, Johnson et al. 1774</ref> and 1809,<ref>Pegge's ''Anonymiana'', 1818, p. 33</ref> the "juice" variant appearing only in the late 19th and 20th centuries.

It has also been suggested that the name derives from the French {{Lang|fr|jeu-trompe}} meaning 'toy trumpet'.<ref>{{cite book |title=Things Not Generally Known: Popular Errors Explained & Illustrated |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_oNIDAAAAQAAJ |first=John |last=Timbs |year=1858 |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_oNIDAAAAQAAJ/page/n72 61]}}</ref> The current French word for the instrument is {{Lang|fr|guimbarde}}.  English etymologist [[Hensleigh Wedgwood]] wrote in 1855 that the derivation from {{Lang|fr|jeu harpe}} opposes the French idiom, where "if two substantives are joined together, the qualifying noun is invariably the last".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Wedgwood|first=Hensleigh|author-link=Hensleigh Wedgwood|title=On False Etymologies|journal=Transactions of the Philological Society|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3924121;view=1up;seq=73|year=1855|issue=6|pages=63}}</ref> He refers to the {{Lang|fr|jeu harpe}} derivation, but not to the {{Lang|fr|jeu tromp}} derivation.

Both theories—that the name is a corruption of ''jaws'' or {{Lang|fr|jeu}}—are described by the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' as "lacking any supporting evidence."<ref name="Université Laval - Déconnexion">{{Cite web|url=https://www-oed-com.acces.bibl.ulaval.ca/view/Entry/101242?|title = Université Laval - Déconnexion|website=Oed-com.acces.bibl.ulaval.ca}}</ref> The OED says that, "more or less satisfactory reasons may be conjectured: e.g., that the instrument was actually made, sold, or imported to England by Jewish people, or purported to be so; or that it was attributed to Jewish people, suggesting the trumps and harps mentioned in the Bible, and hence considered a good commercial name."<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|year=1989|title=Jews' trump, Jew's-trump|encyclopedia=Oxford English Dictionary|publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> Although the OED states that "the association of the instrument with Jewish people occurs, so far as is known, only in English",<ref name="Université Laval - Déconnexion"/> the term {{lang|da|jødeharpe}} is also used in Danish.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ordnet.dk/ddo/ordbog?query=j%C3%B8deharpe|title=jødeharpe — Den Danske Ordbog|website=Ordnet.dk}}</ref>