Meaning of clàrsach | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Alternative spelling of clarsach.
   alt-of, alternative
2. A small triangular wire-strung harp of Gaelic origin.

Examples

“Thrice, with the same result, his hand / Upon the chords he laid— / He turned the keys, but harsher sound / The trembling clàrsach made: / In honor of the mother, then, / A planxty he composed, / And perfect was the harmony / Until the strain was closed.”

“In the sea-loch now known as that of Tarbert of Loch Fyne, but in the old far-off days named the Haven of the Foray, there was once a grianân, a sunbower, of so great a loveliness, that throughout all lands of the Gael the strings of the singing men’s clàrsachs ceaselessly stirred to it, as at a breath of the beauty of all beauty.”

“Repairs of the highest quality are still very much part of their business but to this they have now added the sale of musical instruments including their own clàrsachs, for which the orders are pouring in from the U.S.A. and many places in Europe.”

“My harp, my clàrsach, my fiddle, my stringed instruments wherever I go: when I was young, a little girl, your coming would cheer my spirits, you’d get a kiss without having to ask, and I feel now you have a right to one.”

“A minstrel was ushered in with his clàrsach by one of the servers and given a chair. The man sat down and started to pluck the strings to the melodious sounds of “Sir Patrick Spens.””

“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.”

“[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.”

“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.”

“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).”

“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.”

“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.”

“[T]here are two examples of the earliest clarsachs in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland. The Caledonian or Lamont harp is believed to date back to 1464, and the Queen Mary harp dates back to about 1564. Mary Queen of Scots was an ardent clarsach player, as was King James I. The clarsach was popular in Scotland until the middle of the eighteenth century, when the destruction of the clan system had its concurrent effect on this instrument. It was not until the 1890s that the clarsach was heard from again.”

CEFR level