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from Edward Bunting, The Ancient Music of Ireland (Dublin 1840), Page 27: Double notes, chords, etc. for the right hand.
Irish glaslúth
spoken by Gráinne Yeats
Scottish Gaelic glas-luath
spoken by Tony Dilworth
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“By thumb, first, and third fingers; a chord of a third, with an octave.” Simon Chadwick 2008 |
This figure is the first in a series of four right hand (bass) chords given on page 27. All are arpeggiated downwards and this is pointed out in the text. Each is given in two alternative positions on the harp but using the same intervals and fingerings.
Simon Chadwick 2008
Glasluth - Quick locking
The English here is an erroneous translation, because it understands glas as 'lock' and luth as 'quick': a genuine Irish compound would have the elements in the reverse order. In fact the word is probably another compound of lúth like those in nos Barrluth, Barrluth beal an-airde, Casluth and Barrluth fosgailte, where that word denotes a 'variation' or 'movement' of some kind, and here evidently 'a chord'. The meaning of the first element, glas, is not immediately obvious, but glas, 'a lock' is a possibility (see Scottish Gaelic Studies XIX [1999], p.184).
Colm Ó Baoill 2002