There's a Rain Captain? Can we get him fired or something? We've had enough rain, and we aren't even close to The Mississippi!

Paul

Was this name brought on by all the rain captain.

Donato De Santis said:

LOL not a bug or a cat it's a Boston Terror. HAHA

Paul Certo said:

OK, my dulcimer has told me her name finally, it's Ginger. :)

That ain't no BUG, it's a CAT! I've seen those kinda critters before.

Paul

LOL I've already been zapped with the DULCIMER bug!

Got my new Papaws dulcimer made by Bill Rich today and it is Beautifu l. I just can't decide if it's a boy or a girl yet , after I play it a while i'll know and then a name will come to me . It is made of Hawian KOA with a ebony fret board, possum board and a ...... pick up. Yep I've gone ELECTRIC!!!!!! I'll post pics tomorrow.

I never named mine. But after learning about a mythical beast in High School Spanish classes, our younger daughter named my bass dulcimer "Chupacabra." She said it was the biggest dulcimer she ever saw, and thought the name fit. I don't see it that way, but I didn't bother to argue. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chupacabra I think she named her fiddle, too. (Dad! It's a VIOLIN!)

Paul

Oh my that's a pretty one! And now I know how NOT to lose my pick.

Dana R. McCall said:

Icabod Crane...I love it!

Ken Hulme said:

I named my new Modern Mountain Made of Curly maple "Curly Sue" it just seemed to fit.

Beth, be sure to tell us when you decide on a name- that dulcimer is so lovely!

I like naming things. I name my bicycles, and i name my beehives and my apiary. I named my mandolins and my banjos. I named my Galax dulcimer The Merrimac after the Civil War iron-clad ship....but oddly i haven't named my beautiful curly maple Keith Young dulcimer! Can't figure out why.

--
Site Owner

Those irritated by grain of sand best avoid beach.
-Strumelia proverb c.1990

I've not been one to name my instruments, just my boats. However, since Harpmaker Dave created a slightly customized Student model for me - without a tuning head so that it would fit in my travel footlocker. Being"headless", it has attained the nickname ofIcabod Crane...

I just got mine, and I'm thinking about naming her. She's definitely a she...

I think she needs to gain her voice before she can tell me her name. But I'm curious about the rest of you, what are your instrument's names?

Hi Folkfan,

I hope you don't think I was offended by your response.
There are a number of names for fairy in Gaelic. I found another in Scots - sitheach.

Sith (with the accent over the i) also means peace. I almost gave my dulcimer that name since I liked the double meaning. Then my daughter pointed out that the Sith are the evil jedi in Star Wars and no one would consider the Gaelic meaning.

Since your response, I'm thinking, at least one other person knows it's Gaelic and pronounced shee. I might just go back to Sith - peace and fairy. Thanks, Folkfan.

I just never seen that particular spelling. I know that in the Irish Gaelic they're known by various names such as the daoine sdhe. While in the Scots Gaelic they are the daoine sth or daoine sdh. The true meaning has been debated. Both People of Peace or Men of Peace, and People of the Barrow (Hollow Hill) are possible translations. The true nature of the sidhe depends in part on what court they are believed to be from, the Seelie, or the UnSeelie. Personally the UnSeelie sound like they have more fun!!!! ;-)

Sithiche is Scots Gaelic as opposed to Irish. Pronunciation is similiar: shee-ich with the ch pronounced hard as in loch. If I could figure out how to do it, there'd be a reversed accent over the first i.

I've normally seen the Gaelic for the people of the hollow hills as Sidhe and pronounced Shee. Sidhe Beag Sidhe Mor are the two fairy hills in the tune by O'Carolan. Rosemary Bridges said:

Interesting spelling for Sidhe.And yes I do name my instruments. In fact Harpmaker used to store his inventory with me only on the condition that I not give them names. For some reason he felt (heheheheee)that if I gave it a name, I wouldn't let it go. Of course, he was right.Most commonly, I name an instrument because of its sound hole pattern. But some times it's shape or voice speaks to me more. So here goes:1. Thistle (thistles are wood burned around a round sound hole)2. Ivy (Ivy leaf shaped sound hole with wood burned vines)3. Mae (after her Mae West hourglass shape)4. Dear Heart (heart shaped sound holes)5. Magic (unicorn sound holes)6. Flame (walnut with flamed aspen top)7. Flare (flared pattern in poplar top with flame sound holes)8. Star Bright (tear drop all walnut with star sound holes but very bright traditional sound)9. Irish (a true boxed dulcimer as it has a lid that removes which covers a courting dulcimer. Top is covered with wood burned knotwork and vines10.Comet (Comet shaped sound holes)11. Star Light (Star fish shaped sound holes)12. Comet's Fancy ( another comet shaped sound hole, but highly figured cherry and figured redwood top with gold tuners with jade buttons.)13. Fred (for Winifred the Woebegone and f shaped sound holes)14. Is undergoing some restoration and perhaps he will tell me his name when I'm finished. I haven't had a chance to sing with this one yet.

So I'm curious. How many of us name our dulcimers and how do we choose the name?

I didn't name my first dulcimer at first. It wasn't until years later that a name popped into my head after I'd been playing. Since then, each dulcimer gets a name that doesn't occur to me until after I've been playing it for awhile.

So my Edd Presnell is named Gypsy, my Blue Lions are Dove and Sithiche (gaelic for fairy).

updated by @stephanie-stuckwisch: 08/03/23 02:19:31PM