Fiddlin' Around

         

 Recently, a friend and I were trying to arrange to meet for lunch. After we finally agreed upon a date, she said that I was too busy and asked what I do to stay so busy. I said that for one thing, I just fiddle around. She said that she knew that I did more than just sit around on my bonhunkus reading about Bat Boy in old copies of the Weekly World News. I replied that by “fiddle around,” I did not mean that I was “[acting] idly or frivolously,” as the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) defines the phrase, but I was actually playing the fiddle. I have never heard of anyone violining around, so I left off reading about Bat Boy and instead pondered the question of the difference between a fiddle and a violin.

            The situation all began in December, 2019, when my brother-in-law, Mark, initially gave me one of his spare violins. (For the story of my New Year’s resolution to re-learn the violin, see “Be-Lied.”)  He opened the case, showed it to me, and shut the case. When I got the violin home and pulled it from the case, it rattled! With some effort I teased the noisemaker out of the body of the violin—a real (dead) rattlesnake rattle. After I told Mark of this find, he told me this story. His first violin was a hand-me-down from an old fiddling family. The fiddle giver told Mark that traditionally, fiddle players find that their fiddles are in finer fettle with a rattle in the body. The sound is more interesting. Therefore, Mark put rattles in all of his violins and forgot to tell me. In this case, the rattle transformed the violin into a fiddle.

            To further explore the conundrum, I consulted the OED, which defines “violin” as “a musical instrument in common use, having four strings tuned in fifths and played with a bow; a fiddle.” According to this definition, no difference exists between a violin and a fiddle. This bowed stringed instrument is two instruments in one. The word comes from the Italian violino, which makes sense based on the history (detailed below) of the violin. The entry goes on to describe a violin: “In general structure the violin is composed of a resonant box of elaborately curved outline, and a neck or handle from the end of which the strings are stretched over a bridge to a tail-piece.” The first literary citation listed is from the works of Spenser in 1579.

The OED defines “fiddle” as “a stringed instrument of music; usually, the violin, but also . . . applied to any other instruments of the viol kind. Now only in familiar or contemptuous use.” So while a violin is also a fiddle, a fiddle is not necessarily a violin, but could be any member of a class of instruments known as bowed stringed instruments. The entry states that the origin of the word is unknown but possibly of Teutonic origin. The first literary citation come from a lay (or short poem) dated 1205. At some point which the OED does not pinpoint, “fiddle” was relegated to common (“familiar”) usage or usage of disrespect (“contemptuous use”). (See “Be-Worded” on the word vulgar.)

            This information raised the question: why is “fiddling around” considered derogatory? On one hand, “fiddle” appears in positive sayings, such as “fine or fit as a fiddle” or “to hang up one’s fiddle” (or retire). While the OED lists no negative usages of “violin,” it cites some unflattering usages of “fiddle”: “to make aimless or frivolous movements” or “to fritter away.”

            I decided to delve into the history of these two instruments for further illumination. Various sources credit the fiddle as the forerunner of the violin. Yamaha’s Musical Instrument Guide claims that “Compared to its ancestors, the violin is in a class by itself in terms of completeness. In addition, it was not improved gradually over time, but appeared in its current form around 1550.” The violin was born as a mature adult. Andre Amati and Gaspard di Bertolotti are credited with introducing the violin in northern Italy. Britannica states, “The violin is probably the best known and most widely distributed musical instrument in the world.” (I am guessing that the ukulele is not far behind!)

            None of my researches revealed why the phrase “fiddle around” developed its negative meaning. Perhaps, once the violin appeared in the mid-16^th Century, the fiddle became the lowly sibling since a fiddle can be a number of bowed string instruments and not the perfectly formed violin. Perhaps, once violin was introduced, fiddling became something that the lower classes enjoyed, relegating playing the violin to the elite. 

            Now when I get ready to embark upon a serious endeavor or practice Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, I will say that I am going to “violin around.” When I get ready to goof off or practice Celtic music or folk tunes—“Danny Boy” or “Salley Gardens”—I will say that I am going to fiddle around. That way, those around me will clearly know my intent.

 LAGNIAPPE: While Shakespeare does not mention the violin, he does mention the viol, twice in Pericles and once in Richard II.