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clairseach

from Edward Bunting, The Ancient Music of Ireland (Dublin 1840), page 20: The different kinds of Irish harps.


Irish Cláirseach spoken by Gráinne Yeats
Scottish Gaelic Clàrsach spoken by Tony Dilworth

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Clairseach - The common harp

Correct spelling is cláirseach (in Scottish Gaelic clàrsach, Manx claasagh). A feminine noun, derived from clár, 'a board'. The earliest extant occurrence of the word appears to date from the fourteenth century, and John Bannerman has suggested ("The Clàrsach and the Clàrsair", Scottish Studies 30 [1991], pp.1-17) that the term was coined around that time for the "new" triangular frame harp which was replacing the older cruit: he suggests that this coining and the new harp were both of Scottish origin (pp.3-4).

Colm Ó Baoill 2002