Celtic harp

The Celtic harp is a triangular frame harp traditional to the Celtic nations of northwest Europe. It is known as cláirseach in Irish, clàrsach in Scottish Gaelic, telenn in Breton and telyn in Welsh. In Ireland and Scotland, it was a wire-strung instrument requiring great skill and long practice to play, and was associated with the Gaelic ruling class. It appears on Irish coins, Guinness products, the coat of arms of the Republic of Ireland, Montserrat, Canada as well as the flag of Montserrat. The early history of the triangular frame harp in Europe is contested. The first instrument associated with the harping tradition in the Gaelic world was known as a cruit. This word may originally have described a different stringed instrument, being etymologically related to the Welsh crwth. It has been suggested that the word clàrsach / cláirseach (from clàr / clár, a board) was coined for the triangular frame harp which replaced the cruit, and that this coining was of Scottish origin. A notched piece of wood which some have interpreted to be part of the bridge of an Iron Age lyre dating to around 300 BC was discovered on the Isle of Skye, which, if actually a bridge, would make it the oldest surviving fragment of a western European stringed instrument (although images of Greek lyres are much older). The earliest descriptions of a European triangular framed harp, i.e. harps with a fore pillar, are found on carved 8th century Pictish stones.The Anglo Saxon Harp, 'Spectrum, Vol. 71, No. 2 (Apr. 1996), pp. 290–320. Pictish harps were strung from horsehair. The instruments apparently spread south to the Anglo Saxons who commonly used gut strings and then west to the Gaels of the Highlands and to Ireland. Exactly thirteen depictions of any triangular chordophone instrument from pre-11th-century Europe exist and twelve of them come from Scotland. The earliest Irish references to stringed instruments are from the 6th century, and players of such instruments were held in high regard by the nobility of the time.