clarsach

plural clarsachs · alternative clareschaw · alternative clerschew · alternative clersha · alternative clarishoe · alternative clairschach · alternative clairshach · alternative clashach · alternative clàrsach · alternative clarseach · alternative clearsach

1. A small triangular wire-strung harp of Gaelic origin.

   He is particularly delighted by her skill in music, which is so exquisite, that she far exceeds the best performers in this country in playing on the clashach or harp.

   1819, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter V, in Tales of My Landlord, Third Series. […], volume IV (A Legend of Montrose), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 306

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   And I, beside the lake of swans, / Shall hunt for thee the fallow deer; / And build thy hut and bring thee home / The wild fowl, and the honey-comb; / And berries from the wood provide, / And play my clarshech by thy side.

   1810, Thomas Campbell, “O’Connor's Child, or, The Flower of Love Lies Bleeding”, in The Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell. […], Baltimore, Md.: Printed for Philip H[oulbrooke] Nicklin & Co., […], stanza VIII, page 209

   [S]he sate down at a little distance upon the bench on which Allan M‘Aulay was placed, and tuning her clairshach, a small harp, about thirty inches in height, she accompanied it with her voice.

   1819, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter VI, in Tales of My Landlord, Third Series. […], volume III (A Legend of Montrose), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 274

   They [the country people] preferred the sprightly springs of the fiddle when intent on the dance; or if pouring forth the sweet melody of the song, their choice accompaniment was unquestionably the clarsach (harp).

   1876 July, “Gaelic Songs”, in Alexander Mackenzie, Alexander Macgregor, editors, The Celtic Magazine: A Monthly Periodical Devoted to the Literature, History, Antiquities, Folk Lore, Traditions, and the Social and Material Interests of the Celt at Home and Abroad, volume I, number IX, Inverness: A. & W. Mackenzie, […]; Edinburgh: J. Menzies & Co., and Maclauchlan & Stewart; Glasgow: William Love, →OCLC, page 295

   After long thought, he took his clàrsach and went up through the ancient forest and out upon the desert of the great mountain which towers above all others in Emhain Abhlach. He played gently upon his clàrsach as he went, so that no wild thing molested him.

   1899, Fiona Macleod [pseudonym; William Sharp], “Honey of the Wild Bees”, in The Dominion of Dreams, Westminster, London: Archibald Constable and Co., →OCLC; 5th edition, Westminster, London: Archbald Constable and Co., […], 1899, →OCLC, page 248

   The craft of making clarsachs or harps continues despite the fact that of the three principal instruments played in Scotland over the centuries the clarsach is almost certainly the oldest.

   1974, Michael Brander, Scottish Crafts and Craftsmen, Edinburgh: Johnston and Bacon, →ISBN, page 66

   Synonyms: Celtic harp, Gaelic harp