Harp vs harmonica
Hello, I'm just curious, not being natively English-speaking.. Some people here say harmonica, others harp.
Are both words used equally, or are they used maybe in different areas?
I had no idea that harmonica in other languages may refer to accordion!
Sorry, folks over there in the UK, but it's an old joke here in the Colonies.
I've read in connection with bios of members of the Rolling Stones that back in the 1960s when Brian Jones and John Lennon were picking up harmonicas, in England "harmonica" referred to chromatic harmonicas, and "harp" was used for 10-hole diatonics. (I wonder if for young Mick Jagger it was a "Kent Saxophone" for folks like him, born in Dartford.)
And then there are those who prefer "Mississippi Saxophone."
But "Tin Sandwich" has always made my mouth hurt.
The word for harmonica in Italian is armonica a bocca (mouth organ) whereas the accordion in Italian is fisarmonica. However, when Italians see a harmonica, they will pratically always wrongly call it fisarmonica.
In some older writings the harmonica is referred to as a "gob iron." From, e.g., "gob," meaning a mouthful.
Next time you're on the bandstand ask your bandleader to introduce you as, ".... and please welcome on gob iron, _______" And see how many people head for the door. Or come up to the stage to take their money back out of the tip jar!
The German term Mundharfe (lterally mouth harp) has been used since the beginning.
The term Harmonica (or Harmonika) in many languages refers to the accordion, so you sometimes see the terms Mund-harmonika to distinguish between the two.
Harmonica orginally referred to a completely unrelated instrument that generates sound with the friction of a moistened fingertip against glass. Benjamin Franklin is often credited with it invention, though he only made improvements.
Mouth organ is another widely used term, but its first use in English (around 1810) actually referred to panpipes. The earliest harmonicas actually resembled panpipes.
So the poor harmonica doesn't really have a name it can claim as exclusively its own. But it has many other nicknames in multiple languages. In French it's sometimes called ruine-babines or musique à bouche.