Peculiar

Peculiar (pronounced pi-kyool-yer)

(1) Something thought strange, queer, odd, eccentric, bizarre.

(2) Something uncommon or unusual.

(3) Distinctive in nature or character from others.

(4) Belonging characteristically to something.

(5) Belonging exclusively to some person, group, or thing.

(6) In astronomy, designating a star or galaxy with special properties that deviates from others of its spectral type or galaxy class.

(7) A property or privilege belonging exclusively or characteristically to a person.

(8) In the Church of England, a particular parish or church that is exempted from the jurisdiction of the ordinary or bishop in whose diocese it lies and is governed by another.

(9) In printing and typesetting, special characters not generally included in standard type fonts, as phonetic symbols, mathematical symbols etc (such as ±§¿).  Also called arbitraries.

1400-1450: From the late Middle English, from the Old French peculiaire and directly from the Latin pecūliāris (as one's own property), from pecūlium (private property (literally "property in cattle") a derivative of pecū (flock, farm animals) from pecus (cattle) (in Antiquity, the ownership of cattle was an important form of wealth).  The meaning “unusual” dates from circa 1600, a development of the earlier idiom “distinguished or special”.  The meaning "unusual, uncommon; odd" emerged by circa 1600, an evolution from the earlier "distinguished, special, particular, select" which was in use by at least the 1580s.  The euphemistic phrase "peculiar institution" (slavery; "peculiar" used here in the sense of "exclusive to the "slave states") dates from the 1830s when it was used in speeches by Southern politician John C Calhoun (1782-1850) and it was a standard part of the US political lexicon until abolition.  In ecclesiastical administration, peculiar was used in the sense of "distinct from the auspices of the diocese in which it's located".  Peculiar is a noun & adjective, peculiarize is a verb, peculiarity is a noun and peculiarly is an adverb; the noun plural is peculiars.

Photographers will use the natural environment to produce peculiar effects which can be striking: This is Lindsay Lohan straked by sunlight & shadow from a photo session by Ellen Von Unwerth (b 1954) for Vogue Italia, August 2010.  The caption “Ho fatto terribili sbagli dai quali però ho imparato molto.  Probabilmente per questo sono ancora viva” translates from the Italian as “I've made terrible mistakes, but I've learned a lot from them.  That's probably why I'm still alive.”

In the Church of England, a peculiar is an ecclesiastical district, parish, chapel or church which operates outside the jurisdiction of the bishop and archdeacon of the diocese in which they are situated. Most are Royal Peculiars subject to the direct jurisdiction of the monarch but some are those under another archbishop, bishop or dean.  The arrangement originated in Anglo-Saxon times and developed as a result of the relationship between the Norman and Plantagenet Kings and the English Church. King Henry VIII (1491–1547; King of England (and Ireland after 1541) 1509-1547) retained Royal Peculiars following the Reformation and the Ecclesiastical Licences Act (1533), as confirmed by the Act of Supremacy (1559), transferred to the sovereign the jurisdiction which previously been exercised by the pope.  Surprisingly, most peculiars survived the Reformation but, with the exception of Royal Peculiars, almost all were abolished during the nineteenth century by various acts of parliament.  Mostly harmless among Anglicans, the concept existed also in the Roman-Catholic Church where it caused a few difficulties, usually because of bolshie nuns in convents answerable to Rome and not the local bishop.  The bishops, used to obedience, even if grudging, enjoyed this not at all.

One archaic-sounding peculiarity in the sometimes intersecting world of geopolitics and diplomatic conventions is that on the Chrysanthemum Throne sits an emperor yet there is no Japanese empire.  Actually, despite the institution having a history stretching back millennia, no empires remain extant and some of the more recent (such as the Central African Empire (1976-1979)) have been dubious constructions.  Despite that, the Japanese head of state remains an emperor which seems strange but the reasons the title has endured are historical, linguistic & diplomatic.  The Japanese sovereign’s native title is 天皇 (Tennō (literally “Heavenly Sovereign” and best understood in the oft-used twentieth century phrase “Son of Heaven”).  When, in the mid 1800s, the Western powers first began their engagement with Japan, the diplomatic protocol specialists soon worked out there was in their languages no exact term which exactly encapsulated Tennō and because “king” historically was lower in status than “emperor”, that couldn’t be used because, the Japanese court regarding itself as equal to (in reality probably “superior to”) the ruling house in China, it would have implied a loss of face.  So, on the basis of the precedent of the Chinese 皇帝 (huángdì (Emperor), Tennō entered English (and other European languages) translated as “emperor”.  This solved most potential problems by placing the Japanese sovereign on the same level as the Chinese Emperor & Russian Tsar.

Cars of the Chrysanthemum Throne: Emperor Akihito (b 1933; Emperor of Japan 1989-2019) waving while leaving Tokyo's Imperial Palace in 2006 Toyota Century (left) and the 2019 Toyota Century four-door parade cabriolet (right).  Although in the West, Toyota in 1989 created the Lexus brand for the upper middle class (and hopefully above), the royal household has for years been supplied with Toyotas, some of them with bespoke coachwork and interior appointments although mechanical components come from the Toyota/Lexus parts bin.  The four-door cabriolet replaced a 1990 Rolls-Royce Corniche DHC (drophead coupé) which, having only two doors made less easy an elegant ingress or egress.

As things turned out, the linguistic pragmatism turned out to be predictive because during the Meiji period (1868-1912), Japan emerged as a modern imperial power, with colonies in Taiwan, Korea and other places.  After World War II (1939-1945), the empire was dissolved but the imperial institution was retained, a fudge the Allied powers tacitly had conceded as an alternative to insisting on the “unconditional surrender” the Potsdam Declaration (26 July, 1945) had demanded.  Tennō thus remained the head of state’s title and in English it has continued to be rendered as “Emperor”, a nod more to historical continuity than diplomatic courtesy.  In a practical sense, this represented no obvious challenge because being styled “The Emperor” was geographically vague, unlike the king in the UK who obviously ceased to be called “Emperor of India” after the Raj was dissolved with the granting of Indian independence in 1947.  The peculiar anomaly of an emperor without an empire remains peculiar to Japan.

Peculiar has a range of meanings.  One is the sense of something “uniquely peculiar to” meaning an attribute or something else shared with no other and sometimes things one thought peculiar to one thing or another are proved not so unique.  Saturn’s lovely rings were once thought peculiar to that planet but exploration and advances in observational technology meant that by the late twentieth century it could be revealed Jupiter, Uranus & Neptune all had ring systems, albeit more modest than those of Saturn but they were there.  Non-realistic art has often for its impact depended on a depiction of the peculiar: blue trees, flying dogs and green people once all enough to shock.  This too can change.  Once, a painting of a black swan would have seemed peculiar because, as the Roman saying went rara avis in terris nigroque simillima cygno (a bird as rare upon the earth as a black swan).  The accepted fact was that all swans were white.  However, late in the seventeenth century, Dutch explorers visiting what is now the coast of Western Australia became the first Europeans to see black swans and event subsequently picked up in philosophy as the “black swan moment”, referencing the implications of an accepted orthodoxy of impossibility being disproven, later developed into the “black swan logical fallacy” which became a term used when identifying falsification.

However, the two meanings can co-exist in the one sentence such as: (1) “Fortunately, the most peculiar of the styling motifs Plymouth used on the 1961 range remained peculiar to that single season” or (2) “On the basis of comments from experts in the linguistics community, Lindsay Lohan's peculiar new accent seems peculiar to her.”  In each case the first instance was used in the sense of “strange or weird” while the second suggested “uniqueness”.  Because in sentence construction, unless done for deliberate effect, there's some reluctance to repeat what may be called “noticeable words” (ie those which “stick out” because they’re rare or in some way unusual), writers can be tempted by the sin of what Henry Fowler (1858–1933) in his A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926) called “elegant variation”.  Although willing to concede inelegance had its place as a literary or dramatic device (rather as a soprano with a lovely voice sometimes has to sing an aria which demands she sounds “ugly”), Henry Fowler preferred all sentences to be elegant.  Elegance however was a product and not a process, and he cautioned “young writers” (those older presumably written off as beyond redemption) against following what had become established as a “misleading rules of thumb”: Never to use the same word twice in a sentence or within 20 lines or other limit.”  His view was that if unavoidable, repetition, elegantly done was preferable to the obviously contrived used of synonyms such as (1) monarch, king, sovereign, ruler or (2) women, ladies, females, the variants there just to comply with a non-existent rule.  Predictably, the law was singled out as repeat offender, the use of “suits, actions & cases appearing in the one sentence to describe the same thing pointlessly clumsy in what was merely a list in which a repeated use of “cases” would had added clarity although that quality is not one always valued by lawyers.   

Peculiar in the sense of something bizarre: 1961 Plymouth Fury Convertible.  It must have seemed a good idea at the time and never has there been anything to suggest the stylists were under the influence of stimulants stronger than caffeine or nicotine.

Sometimes something thought peculiar can be described as “funny-peculiar” to distinguish it from something disturbing: peculiarities can be thought of as perversions.  In 1906, an embittered and vengeful Friedrich von Holstein (1837–1909; between 1876-1906, an éminence grise in the foreign office of the German Empire) sent a letter to the diplomat Prince “Phili” Phillip of Eulenburg (1847–1921), the man he blamed for ending of his long and influential career:

“My dear Phili – you needn’t take this beginning as a compliment since nowadays to call a man ‘Phili” means – well, nothing very flattering… I am now free to handle you as one handles such a contemptible person with your peculiarities.”

From this incendiary note ensued a series of legal proceedings exploring the allegations of “unnatural conduct” (homosexual activity) levelled against Prince Phillip, proceedings which involved a roll-call of characters, many with motives which went beyond their strict legal duty and a few with their own agendas.  The matter of Phili’s “peculiarities” was of real political (and potentially constitutional) significance, not merely because homosexuality was punishable under the criminal code (although the statute was rarely enforced) but because the prince had for decades been the closest friend of the German Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859–1941; German Emperor & King of Prussia 1888-1918).  To this day, the exact nature of the relationship between the two remains uncertain.

Violin

Violin (pronounced vahy-uh-lin)

(1) The treble instrument of the family of modern bowed instruments, built as a small unfretted instrument with four strings tuned (lowest to highest) G-D-A-E and held nearly horizontal by the player's arm against the chin, with the lower part supported against the collarbone or shoulder; it’s played with a bow.

(2) In musical performance, metonymically, the position of a violinist in an orchestra, string quartet or other formation or group (sometimes as first violin, second violin etc).

(3) In musical composition, a part to be played on a violin.

(4) Any instrument of the violin family, always inclusive of violins, violas, and cellos and sometimes further including the double bass (used by certain musical specialists but a use derided by most).

(5) To play on, or as if on, a violin (rare except in technical use),

1570–1580: From the Italian violino (a little viola), the construct being viol(a) (from the Italian viola, from the Provençal and of uncertain origin but there may be some link with the Latin vītulārī (to rejoice)) + -ino (the suffix used to form diminutives).  The sixteenth century word described the modern form of the smaller, medieval viola da braccio.  The violin and viola share similarities in terms of construction and playing technique but a violin is smaller.  A full-size violin has a body length around 14 inches (360 mm) while a viola typically extends to around 16 inches (405 mm) and the larger instrument tends to have a lower pitch range and different tonal qualities.  The violin is noted for a high pitch range (G-D-A-E low to high) while a viola is tuned to C-G-D-A, a perfect fifth lower which lends it a deeper, mellower sound.  In an orchestra, the violin usually plays the melody (the highest voice in the string section) and thus many solo pieces are written which attract the most virtuosic players.  Viola pieces are usually supportive , providing harmony, inner voices, or countermelodies although it does have its own solo repertoire.  Violin is a noun & verb, violinist is a noun and violining & violined are verbs; the noun plural is violins.

The Duce with violin.

As well as professionals, the violin has long attracted also those who enjoy music as a hobby, Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977), Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992), Albert Einstein (1879-1955) & Benito Mussolini (1883-1945; Duce (leader) & prime-minister of Italy 1922-1943) were all keen players and leader of the US Nation of Islam (NOI), Louis Farrakhan (b 1933), in 1993 even performed Felix Mendelssohn's (1809-1847) Violin Concerto in E Minor.  His skill aside (and the reviews were warm enough), the choice of a piece by Mendelssohn was interesting because of Mr Farrakhan's history of anti-Semitic rhetoric but even in that the interpretations of motive varied because although of Jewish ancestry, the composer was baptized and raised a Christian and while in recent years some scholars have made the case for the sincerity of his Christianity, others maintain that for most of his life he displayed an unalloyed reverence for his Jewish roots.  While the persistent legend is that Roman Emperor Nero (37-68) "fiddled while Rome burned" in 64 AD it probably isn't true; even if he "fiddled away" on some instrument, it wouldn't have been a fiddle because that device was 15 centuries away.  If he played anything mid-inferno it was probably a lute but historians think the phrase was intended to mean something like "twiddled his thumbs", suggesting he was negligently inactive or inept in his handling of the disaster.  Even this is now thought by many historians to be the fake news of its day, spread by his political enemies (of which justly he had many).

Lindsay Lohan backstage with guitarist Michael Isbell (b 1979) & fiddle player Amanda Shires (b 1982) at the Dylan Fest concert, Bowery Ballroom, New York City, November 2013.

The distinction between the violin and the fiddle is less about the actual instruments than the use to which they’re put although both words are replete with cultural baggage.  What is essentially the same instrument is thought a violin when playing from the classical canon and a fiddle if performing folk or country & western (C&W) music.  Of course there are many genres apart from these and when the instrument is used in other settings (jazz, pop etc), the use is up to the individual, influenced either by their own preference or some sense of adherence to the conventions describing whatever is being performed.  The fiddle (as a stringed musical instrument) has a long history and is a feature of much Medieval art depicting performances of folk music.  It was from the late fourteenth century Middle English fedele, fydyll & fidel, from the eleventh century fithele, from the Old English fiðele (fiddle) which was related to the Old Norse fiðla, the Middle Dutch vedele, the Dutch vedel, the Old High German fidula and the German Fiedel, all of which are of uncertain origin.  There’s never been anything to suggest there’s anything onomatopoeic in the origin and the most cited theory (based on resemblance in sound and sense) is there’ may be some connection to the Medieval Latin vitula (stringed instrument (source of Old French viole and the Italian viola), which may be related to the Latin vitularia (celebrate joyfully), from Vitula, the Roman goddess of joy and victory, thought to have been drawn from the Sabines.  That however remains speculative and it’s not impossible the Medieval Latin word was derived from one of the Germanic forms.

The Dallas-based Quebe Sisters (siblings Grace, Sophia & Hulda) are a triple fiddle trio who play what is described as "neo-traditionalist western swing".

Despite the snobbery of some, those who enjoy C&W music are not culturally inferior; it’s just a different form of sophistication.  In certain circles however there is a dismissive contemptuousness of “fiddle songs” and the fiddle’s reputation has suffered by association, relegated to colloquial use by the respectable violin, a process doubtlessly hastened and encouraged by phrases such as "fiddlesticks" (from the 1620s meaning “untrue; absurd”), "fiddle-de-dee" (from 1784 and a nonsense word in the sense of “contemptuously silly”) and "fiddle-faddle" (a mid-nineteenth century coining to convey the idea of “a statement worthy only of ridicule; blatantly untrue”).  The outlier of course is "fit as a fiddle" (robust; in rude good health), noted since the 1610s and apparently unrelated to music or the instrument, it being probably one of those English sayings which caught on because of the alliterative appeal and there are etymologists who suspect the original form was “fit as a fiddler” but the familiar version prevailed because it more easily rolled from the tongue.

The Kreutzer Sonata (1901), oil on canvas by René François Xavier Prinet (1861-1946).

The Kreutzer Sonata was inspired by Leo Tolstoy’s (1828-1910) novella of the same title (1889), which was named after Ludwig van Beethoven’s (circa 1770–1827) Violin Sonata No 9, Opus 47 (1803), a violin and piano composition dedicated to the French violinist & conductor Rodolphe Kreutzer (1766-1831).  Kreutzer never performed the piece but whether this was related to him being the “second choice” is unknown.  Beethoven originally dedicated the sonata to another violinist who first performed it but the two had a squabble about something and the bad-tempered composer instead conferred the honor on Kreutzer.  The work is a favorite among violinists because it can convey an emotional range from anger and despair to joy and in this vein, Tolstoy’s tale is one of a woman murdered by her husband because of his suspicion of her infidelity with a violinist.  In Moscow, the Tsar’s censor (a busy, full-time job) for a time banned the book because of concerns it might “stir the emotions”.

Viola is a genus of flowering plants in the violet family Violaceae.

The sonata certainly stirred something in Tolstoy who said he was “shocked at the eroticism” when it was performed by a man & woman and he wasn’t the only one affected by the instrument, both the Italian composer and violinist of the Baroque period Giuseppe Tartini (1692–1770) and Russian composer Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) referred to the violin as “the devil’s instrument”.  Tolstoy depicted the violin as something so evil in the eroticism it could summon it could drive a man to murder and infamously there was a violinist who murdered on a grand scale.  The roll-call of evil-doers among the Nazi hierarchy was long and it’s morally dubious to suggest which were worse than others but probably all agree Schutzstaffel (SS) Obergruppenführer (an SS rank then equivalent to an army general) Reinhard Heydrich (1904–1942; head of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Reich Main Security Office (including the Gestapo, Kripo, and SD 1939-1942)) was as repellently awful as any.  He was though a genuinely gifted musician and could have pursued a musical career; it was said when he played the violin, grown men could be reduced to tears.  Heydrich died before he could be tried for his crimes but such was the infamy his name remains a byword for evil, however contested that word; like Mussolini, Heydrich is an example of how a skill to make beautiful art is no guarantee of fine character.

Kiki in Le Violon d'Ingres.

One of the enduring images of surrealist photography Le Violon d'Ingres (Ingres's Violin) was taken by the US visual artist Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky 1890-1976) in Paris 1924.  The model was Kiki de Montparnasse (“Kiki of Montparnasse”: Alice Prin; 1901–1953) and the title was something of a play on words, the French phrase “le violon d'Ingres” meaning “hobby” and mademoiselle Kiki the photographer’s muse and lover (it was a tempestuous relationship). The French expression was derived from the habit of the neoclassical painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780–1867) insisting on playing the violin to visitors who in his studio anxious to view his paintings.  The photograph references one of the artist’s most admired works, La Grande Baigneuse (The Valpinçon Bather) which focuses also on the female back.  Obviously, Man Ray worked in the pre-digital world when images were committed to celluloid but his post-production editing technique used layers in a way analogous with that of Photoshop and other image handlers: Wanting to explore the similarity in shape between the body of a violin and the pleasing torso of his model, he first printed a copy onto which he painted the f-holes of a violin, then photographed the modified image.  That became the famous work and in June 2022 it went under the hammer for US$12.4 million at Christie's New York, making it the most expensive ever to be sold at auction.

Kiki in a French postcard, circa 1920.

Mademoiselle Kiki was from the provinces and came to nude modelling in Paris only after a succession of dreary jobs, the last in a bakery from which she was fired by the baker’s wife for punching her in the face after being called a whore for wearing eye make-up.  Man Ray “discovered her by accident” (historians seem never to have gone into the details) and she found nude modelling both a pleasant occupation and more lucrative than the hard work of being a baker’s assistant but that view wasn’t shared by her mother who, tipped off by a neighbor, burst into the photographer’s studio and make it clear she agreed with baker’s wife, banning her from the apartment they shared.  The affair with Man Ray was thus immediately convenient but their feelings seem genuinely to have been sincere although it did end badly; at one point he was seen chasing her down the street, revolver in hand.

Model Adriana Fenice (b 1995) with viola and horsehair bow.

Modelling "in the buff" was at the time frowned upon by the more respectable of those engaged by Parisian fashion houses, something which endures to this day.  Even in 1946, the inventor of the bikini (not a new style but his cut was daringly minimalist and according to him inspired by his observation on a beach at St Tropez of young ladies "rolling up their bathing suits to get a better tan") couldn’t find a model on the books of the agencies willing to be photographed in such a thing so he hired a nude model; for her it was more fabric than usual.  The disapprobation of the middle-class towards non-conforming women persists and manifests in different cultures at different levels.  In India, nude modelling definitely is out but mothers will also tar occupations such as prostitute, flight attendant and call-centre worker with the same brush of un-virtue, apparently because they all sometimes work during the hours of darkness when respectable girls are in the home, cooking & cleaning.

Nicola Benedetti CBE (b 1987) with her "Earl Spencer" Stradivarius.

Violinist (one who plays the violin) dates from the 1660s and was an un-adapted borrowing from the Italian.  A violinist is thus a musician and not a “violin maker”: those practicing that profession are properly called luthiers.  A luthier is a skilled craftsperson who specializes in the construction, repair, and restoration of stringed instruments, particularly violins and the range of skills needed is wide because the artisan needs to select different types of wood to be cut & carved before being assembled and varnished, all processes which ultimately determine the instrument’s tone and aesthetic qualities.  In the traditional way of making violins, there is both artistry and craftsmanship.  Luthier has no connection with “Lucifer” (and there’s thus no link with the notion of the “devil’s instrument”).  Luthier was from the French luth (lute), a stringed instrument of great antiquity that was wildly popular during the medieval era and the Renaissance periods and the luthier's craft once focused predominately on the construction and repair of lutes.  As the lute faded from use and the violin gained prominence, luthiers adapted and changed, becoming specialists in the violin making, some branching out to include other stringed instruments such as violas, cellos, and guitars.  The French luth was from leutier, from the Latin luteum (yellow or yellowish), thought to refer to the honey-colored wood most suited to musical instruments.

Yehudi Menuhin on stage, 1943.

Still the most famous of the luthiers is Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737) whose workshop was in the norther Italian town of Cremona.  His violins, of which there were thousands, may or may not have been the product of his own hands because he had sons and pupils in his business but the survivors were anyway by the 1990s were selling for millions.  The familiar "Stradivarius" is the anglicized form and although some “blind tests” have suggested even experts can’t tell the difference in the sound from a genuine “Strad” and a good quality modern violin, they have become a collectable and now sell for even more millions.  The acclaimed virtuoso Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999) for decades played on one of the rare Soil Stradivarius, crafted in 1714 during the luthier’s “golden period”.  During World War II (1939-1945), Menuhin sometimes played concerts to entertain troops and once found out that due to an army SNAFU, his waiting audience was expecting an attractive young lady to sing for them.  Undeterred, he walked on stage, telling the soldiers: “You won’t enjoy this, but it’s good for you”, proceeding to play Handel’s Violin Sonata No. 3.  It was well received.

The Joachim-Ma Stradivarius.

In February 2025 a Stradivarius violin, authenticated as having been crafted in 1714, sold at a Sotheby’s of Manhattan auction in New York for $11.25 million which disappointed some who had expected a new record for the instrument.  The 311-year-old artefact was known in the trade as the “Joachim-Ma Stradivarius”, a reference to one-time owners Hungarian violinist, conductor & composer Joseph Joachim (1831–1907 (who had been a friend of the German composer, pianist & conductor Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)) and violinist Ma Si Hon (1925-2009); in 2015 it had been donated to the New England Conservatory (NEC) with the proviso it would one day be sold to fund musical scholarships for youth.  That it didn’t set a new mark may be because, like many collectables, there is the power of celebrity association.

The Lady Blunt Stradivarius in case.

The 1721 “Lady Blunt Stradivarius” which in 2011 passed under the hammer for US$15.9 million had been named for Lord Byron’s (1788–1824) granddaughter (Anne Blunt (1837-1917); Baroness Wentworth but styled usually as Lady Anne Blunt) and in artistic circles there’s quite an allure to Byron (emos and others also affected).  That said, the mid-decade downturn in other collector markets does suggest macro-economic conditions may have been a factor in the 2025 auction, especially if recent inflation and the massive increase in the money supply since 2011 are considered.  However, the official record for US$15.9 million may not be the highest paid because, something like the Ferrari 250 GTOs, Stradivarii do change hands in unpublicized private sales (the so-called “off-market” transactions) and there are (unverified) tales of sales in excess of US$20 million.  Many analysts are sceptical about the notion of US$20 million violins because the price achieved for the Lady Blunt (though one of the finest Stradivarii known to exist, almost unflawed and still with its presentation case by W.E. Hill & Sons of London) was in a charity auction conducted for the benefit of the Nippon Foundation's relief fund for victims of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

Yehudi Menuhin playing the Lady Blunt, Sotheby's, London, 1971.

In a long career 75 years, Menuhin played a number of famous violins including the Lord Wilton Guarnerius (1742), the Giovanni Bussetto (1680), the Giovanni Grancino (1695), the Guarneri filius Andrea (1703), the Soil Stradivarius (1714), the Prince Khevenhüller Stradivari (1733) and the Guarneri del Gesù (1739).  Unlike racing car drivers who in their memoirs usually list the best (and, often more expansively, the worst) machines they handled, in neither of his volumes of autobiography (Unfinished Journey (1977) and Unfinished Journey: Twenty Years Later (1997)) he didn’t rate them although the one he played for almost four decades was the Soil Stradivarius, purchased in 1950.

Violin and Viola

Of the four instruments in the bowed string family (violin, viola, cello & double bass) it’s the larger and latter two which easily are distinguished, the double bass so big that when seeing a musician with their instrument, it will never be confused with a cello.  However, the violin & viola not only look similar but are much closer in size and unless seen side-by-side, it takes a trained eye to tell them apart.  The viola is the second highest-pitched instrument of the family and compositions in both orchestral and chamber music are so often written with it filling harmonies because it can be the bridge between the low-pitched cello and high-pitched melodies of the violin. There were solo compositions for the viola in the Baroque and Classical epochs but the instrument became unfashionable before the modern era when it was “re-discovered” and in recent decades, more have been written.  For those who want to stick to the classics and hear duets for violin & viola, there's Mozart (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's (1756–1791)), the #5 Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat Major an orchestral work while his #6 Duo for Violin and Viola in B-flat Major is unusual in being written for just the two instruments.

Standard size instruments: viola (top) and violin (bottom).

The violin is smaller than the viola, a full-size violin typically some 14 inches (355 mm) in length while a full-size viola is around two inches (50 mm) longer and there are variations (four “standard” sized violas and nine violins) with the smallest generally available viola at 12 inches (300 mm), ideal for very young students with smaller limbs and hands.  Apart from the niche products, a viola will tend to be longer and have a body both deeper and wider.  The difference in size may not seem great but it affects the sound tone, the viola’s ability to play the lower frequencies partly a product of it physical bulk. The two are also played with different bows, the violin’s longer and slimmer and some 10 g (.35 oz) lighter, a product of the viola’s heavier strings which demand a more solid bow to attain clarity of sound in the lower frequencies.

2018 Porsche 911 GT3 in (paint-to-sample) Viola Purple Metallic over Black Leather & Alcantara with grey accents.

A more subtle difference in the design of the bows is found on the frog (the part at the end held by the player, to which the horsehair is attached), that on a viola’s fitting chunkier and often curved compared to the straight edge on a violin bow.  This appears to have no direct effect on the sound but because it influences the way a player holds the bow, experienced musicians can exploit the variations in the shape and the differences in tone can be stark.  While there are five-stringed violins and violas, the standard is four (G – D – A – E (violin: E is highest, G is lowest & viola: A is highest, C is lowest)).  Like the violin, the viola is tuned in fifths but instead of having the high E, it has a low C, one octave below the middle C and a viola’s strings are thicker (and thus heavier).  What all this means is that the notes produced by a violin produces are higher-pitched, thus the attraction to composers for use in solos.  That’s a well-known part of the tradition but both instruments are best understood when the family of four are played in unison, producing what musicians call a “sound color” with each distinct yet when combined the four can in certain compositions be interpreted as a “single instrument”.

Mermaid

Mermaid (pronounced mur-meyd)

(1) In folklore, a female marine creature, having the head, torso, and arms of a woman and the tail of a fish.  The less well-known masculine equivalent is a merman.

(2) Slang term for a highly skilled female swimmer.

Mid-1300s: From the Middle English mermayde (maid of the sea), the construct being mere + maid. From the Middle English mere, from the Old English mere (sea; inlet; lake), from the Proto-Germanic mari derived from the primitive Indo-European móri. It was cognate with the West Frisian mar, the Dutch & Low German meer and Norwegian mar (only used in combinations, such as marbakke).  It was related to the Latin mare, the Breton mor and the Russian мо́ре (móre).  Maid is from the Middle English mayde or maide, an abbreviation of maiden. Ultimate source is the Proto-Germanic magaþs (maid, virgin) and there were links to the Dutch meid & Magd.  The fourteenth century image of the "fabled marine or amphibian creature having the upper body in the form of a woman and the lower in the form of a fish, with human attributes" appeared most often in conjunction with the idea of a creature "usually working harm, with or without malignant intent, to mortals with whom she might be thrown into relation".

Along with meremenn, meremennen & meremenin, Old English had the equivalent merewif (water-witch (related is the modern “wife”)) and meremenn (mermaid, siren) which were cognate with the Middle Dutch meer-minne and the Old High German meri-min which, circa 1200, became the Middle English mere-min, shortened in the early thirteenth century to mere (siren), the later mermaid probably a re-expansion of this.  Interestingly, where similar forms existed in northern Europe, they were tail-less; the fishy form a medieval influence from classical sirens, mermaids said sometimes to lure sailors to destruction with song.

An artist's depiction of Lindsay Lohan as mermaid.

Mermaids became a popular sign displayed by taverns and inns (and not just those in ports or coastal towns) in the early fifteenth century and Mermaid pie, first sold in the 1660s, was a sucking pig baked whole in a crust and documented from 1825 was the mermaid's purse (the baked egg-case of a skate, ray, or shark), a dish (an aquatic take on the culinary tradition of haggis) thought of Scottish origin.  The merman (fabulous sea-creature, man above and fish below (literally "man of the sea)) dates from circa 1600; the gender-neutral merpeople from 1849 and merfolk (inhabitants of the sea with human bodies and fish-like tails) from 1846.  The recent male gender formations never caught the public imagination in quite the same way and seem pointless add-ons to the myth, al la Barbi's Ken.

Садко в Подводном царстве (Romanized as Sadko v Podvodnom tsarstve) and commonly called Sadko although known also as Sadko in the Underwater Kingdom (1876), oil on canvas by Ilya Yefimovich Repin (1844–1930), Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg.  

Repin painted Sadko (an imposing 127 in × 90.6 inches (3.225 x 2.3m)) while living in France.  The artist was inspired by an epic-length Russian poem, depicting the merchant and musician Sadko who must choose for his wife one of the daughters of the Underwater King.  Biographers have noted the subject an uncharacteristic one for Repin and have suggested his choice of a tale from Russian folklore may have reflected the homesickness he felt after three years in self-imposed exile although it exhibits too the influences of the artistic and social milieu of Paris's Montmartre.  At the time, Repin was ambivalent about the state of Russian art and for some time, Sadko sat abandoned in his studio but the society painter Alexey Petrovich Bogolyubov (1824–1896) thought it so compellingly Russian he prevailed upon Tsesarevich Alexander Alexandrovich (1845-1894; the future Tsar Alexander III (1881-1894)) to commission it, prompting Repin to finish the work.

The bylina (an oral epic poem) which inspired the painting was from north-west Russia and recounts how Sadko had been brought to the realm of the Underwater King to perform a recital which went well, so well the king danced with such delight that he caused a devastating storm.  To show his appreciation, the king offered Sadko the choice of one of his mermaid daughters to take as his wife but following the advice of a saint, Sadko refuses three times three hundred daughters before accepting the last, named Chernavushka.  In the painting, Sadko appears at the right, watching the mermaids flow past his gaze, the unchosen at the front of the procession looking more disappointed than the fish John West rejects.  Chernavushka, last in the aquatic queue is shown glancing at her man.  At the time, the work received a mixed reaction.  All acknowledged the technical skill displayed in the execution but it appealed only to Russian traditionalists, those critics who moved in more liberal circles and were attracted more to realism than a mystical allegory of an undersea kingdom thought it sentimental "folk-art" and urged Repin to return to the naturalistic style with which he'd established his early reputation.

Nice work if you can get it: The Disneyland mermaids.

In summer, between 1959-1967, women dressed as mermaids were employed to splash around four hours a day, operating from a coral reef in the middle of the Submarine Lagoon at the Disneyland Resort in California.  The criteria to qualify for selection as a Disney mermaid included having long hair and being able to swim, the other qualifications not listed on the advertisements but presumably implied by the nature of the appointment.  Those lucky enough to succeed in the first stage of the recruitment process needed to prove their prowess in the hotel pool and, upon demonstrating adequate aquatic adeptness, were given a job which included their tails.  The weekly salary was US$65 which was above average for the time, their other perk being the right to swim in any of the park's many pools (without their tails).

Disney mermaids on the rocks.

For a few weeks, prior to the opening in June, the mermaids practiced in Submarine Lagoon, surrounded by construction activity, neither the lagoon or the Matterhorn yet complete and were warned to keep their distance from the submarine, since there was no barrier and the installation contained what were described, ominously, as "moving parts".  After opening, the mermaids would swim around the submarine, giving guests a memorable experience under and above the surface, performing tricks such as flips and turns with their tails.  Their costumes consisted of a starfish top and a remarkably life-like neoprene tail which could be seen shimmering in the water by those aboard the monorail which transported guests between the park and the Disneyland Hotel.

Disney mermaids flexing their tails.

An integral and important part of the lagoon’s design was a centrally-located rock which was artificially heated, vital because the water was cold and on cooler days, the mermaids really needed the warmth.  The rock became the hangout spot for the mermaids to warm up in the sun and chat amongst themselves, itself something of a tourist attraction and one of the park’s more photographed scenes although the volume of the crowds gathered to enjoy the view did create congestion.  That was manageable but the programme had to be closed in 1967 after a number of mermaids were found to be suffering illness, caused by a combination of prolonged exposure to diesel submarine's exhaust fumes and the highly chlorinated water.  After an absence of many years, mermaids can again be seen in the lagoon but, unlike the flesh, blood and neoprene originals, today’s creatures are animatronic creations.

The  “sturgeon incident”, Xishuangbanna Primitive Forest Park, Yunnan, China, January 2025.  

In the twenty-first century, being a mermaid remains hazardous, the dangers including some not covered by most OHS (occupational health & safety) guidelines.  In January 2025, aged 22, Russian national Masha was working as a mermaid in the aquarium at Xishuangbanna Primitive Forest Park in the PRC’s (People’s Republic of China) Yunnan Province when a large sturgeon appeared to attempt to “chomp” on her head.  The quick thinking mermaid swam away with only minor injuries although it appears the fish may have swallowed her goggles and nose clips.  Children in the audience were said to be “shocked”.

Masha before “sturgeon incident”.

The source of the most prized and expensive caviar, sturgeons are among the largest freshwater fish and the largest can grow to 24 feet (7.2 meters) in length and weigh over 3500 lb (1500 kg) although most are typically between 7–10 feet (2–3 meters) and weigh several hundred pounds; an ancient species, they can live over 100 years.  Generally shy, there’s no history of them attacking people although the largest (like the Gulf or Atlantic sturgeon) have sometimes caused injuries (and even fatalities) by leaping from the water and colliding with someone unfortunate enough to be in their path.  Bottom feeders, they live on small aquatic organisms like crustaceans, insects and molluscs; lacking teeth, they use their suction-feeding ability to suck up food from the river or lakebed, relying on their barbels (whisker-like sensory organs) to detect prey in murky water.

Masha after “sturgeon incident”.

The mermaid was offered about US$100 in compensation for “moral damages” but was also warned not to discuss the “attack” and reminded of the consequences of posting material on-line which could be construed as “being a troublemaker” but unfortunately for Xishuangbanna Primitive Forest Park’s relationship with the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), customers who had filmed the attack within minutes uploaded the footage to TikTok’s domestic sister app Douyin, from which it spread worldwide.  Moscow news services reported that so expendable did Russian mermaids appear to be that although injured and in some pain, Masha was required almost immediately to return to the water where presumably she maintained a cautious distance from the big fish.  In Russian, Masha is an affectionate diminutive of Maria, from Mary, the English form of Maria, the Latin form of the Greek Μαρία, María (or Μαριάμ) & Mariam, found in the Septuagint and New Testament.  In the Hebrew the name meant “rising water” and in Russian “star of the sea” so Masha may have been destined to be a mermaid or at least something aquatic.  Masha can also mean “willpower” or “bitterness” and, in the circumstances, she might need one to overcome the other.