Colleagues in Euroamerican Artifact Analyses,
We at the OAS are seeking your help with the question, what do you call the musical instrument often known as the Jews Harp (or Jew's Harp)? We have examined all the references available to us as well as many websites about the instrument, its history, and its identities. As many of you know, there is controversy about whether that name is ethnically inappropriate, even offensive, because of its reference to Jews and, by inference, Judaism. The ethnic reference does not, to me (some at the OAS don't agree), seem offensive at face value, and I have no interest in political correctness for its own sake in this situation any more than in the use of the name French Harp for the instrument often known as a harmonica. The history of the instrument, however, indicates that the name Jews Harp was and is limited in distribution to England, a few parts of Germany, and the United States. The first known recorded name of the instrument uses that name (15th century England), but there are artistic renderings much older than that and the instrument, in many varieties, is found all over the world. One website lists over 1000 names for the instrument around the world, almost none of which mention Jews. So, it seems use of the name Jews Harp in the United States reflects the English portion of the nation's heritage.
Our concern with what to call the instrument has two foci. The first is to find an adequate and appropriate descriptive name. Although pretty much all of us know what a Jews Harp is when we see one or read about one, the limited distribution of the name suggests that it might be adequate to identify the instrument in specific contexts but not in a general analytical sense. We are leaning toward calling it a "jaw harp," a term that seems to describe it adequately (although, as I understand it, the instrument can be broadly classified as a "woodwind" even though the reed is often, particularly in Europe, the Americas, India, and parts of Southeast Asia, made of metal, usually steel or brass). Still, if we were to classify it as a woodwind instrument, we would still need to have a specific name for it. What do our colleagues call the instrument for analytical purposes?
Our second focus is on historical names for the instrument in western and, particularly, southwestern North America.  A generalized, modern, Spanish name is "arpo de boca" (mouth harp), but there are many others in modern Spain and we don't know their antiquities or the breadth of their use in Spanish colonies around the world. We can find no Southwestern Native American examples of the instrument, but we assume that doesn't necessarily mean there weren't/aren't any. Is it a post-Columbian instrument in North America? Do our colleagues know what the instrument was called in Spanish Colonial, Mexican National, and early United States periods? Answers to this focus would probably not change what we call the instrument during analyses but would be useful for discussions of its identity in archaeological and historical contexts.
Thanks for your consideration and answers. We await them on the edges of our seats,
Jeff Boyer


Jeffrey L. Boyer, RPA
Project Director
Office of Archaeological Studies, Museum of New Mexico
mail: P.O. Box 2087, Santa Fe, New Mexico  87504
physical: 407 Galisteo Street, Suite B-100, Santa Fe, New Mexico  87501
tel: 505.827.6387          fax: 505.827.3904
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