from Edward Bunting, The Ancient Music of Ireland (Dublin 1840), page 20: The parts of the harp.
Irish crú na d-tead
spoken by Gráinne Yeats
Scottish Gaelic crudha nan teud
spoken by Tony Dilworth
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String shoes (crú na d-tead) of Lamont harp (Scotland, 15th Century)
from R.B. Armstrong, the Irish and Highland Harps (Edinburgh 1904)
Cru na d-tead - Shoe of the strings, the piece of brass on the sound board, through which the strings pass.
As the English makes clear, the first word is crú, a 'horse-shoe'; 'shoe of the strings' is an accurate translation.
Colm Ó Baoill 2002
The string shoes are usually made of brass in the form of tiny horse-shoes; the metal strings of the Gaelic harp pass over the string shoes, and the shoes save the strings from cutting into the soft willow wood of the soudbox, as well as acting as a solid metal ‘nut’ for the end of the sounding portion of the string.
Simon Chadwick