That's tasty food for thought to catgut integralists on this list, and a
bite out
of their ideal of authenticity.
I already imagine Dan Larson chasing a suitable kitty, because Anthony Hind
has just ordered a set.
RT
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jaroslaw Lipski" <jaroslawlip...@wp.pl>
To: <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Sent: Monday, December 27, 2010 9:34 AM
Subject: [LUTE] catgut
Although this subject was discussed couple of month ago, quite
unexpectedly I found an interesting information in a book on cats which
casts some new light on this term. In "Cat watching" Desmond Morris asks
why sheep gut should be perversely referred to as catgut, and suggests
that the clue lies in the earliest use of the term. At the beginning of
the seventeenth century, one author wrote of fiddlers "tickling the dryed
gutts of a mewing cat". Later we hear of a man upset "at every twang of
the cat-gut, as if he heard at the moment the wailing of the helpless
animal that had been sacrificed to harmony". These references come from a
period when domestic cats were all too often the victims of persecution
and torture, and the sound of squealing cats was not unfamiliar to human
ears. In addition, there was the noise of the caterwauling at times when
feral tomcats were arguing over females in heat. Together, these
characteristic feline sounds provided the obvious basis for a comparison
with the din created by inexpert musicians scraping at their stringed
instruments. In the imaginations of the tormented listeners, the
inappropriate sheep gut became transformed into the appropriate catgut - a
vivid fiction to replace a dull fact (as he suggests).
Hmm.......quite interesting...though he didn't enclose any bibliography
(pity!).
Best wishes for the coming New Year!
Jaroslaw Lipski
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