lin. Lacroix believes that Germany created the Geige; other
authorities are of opinion that it originated among the people of
Provence. The former view is supported by the strongest evidence. Some
inquirers derive the word Geige from the French and Italian words for
leg of mutton.[18] Wigand, however, supposes it to be derived from the
old northern word _Geiga_, meaning trembling, or from _Gigel_, to
quiver. If we consider the nature and character of the instrument,
this view of the derivation of the word appears both ingenious and
correct. Roger North shrewdly conjectured that the "rude and gross"
Gothic Fiddle "used to stir up the vulgar to dancing, or perhaps to
solemnise their idolatrous sacrifices." In the Dark Ages dancing may
have been regarded as bi-pedal trembling. I have remarked in another
place,[19] "In the early ages of mankind dancing or jigging must have
been done to the sound of the voice, next to that of the pipe, and,
when the bow was discovered, to that of a stringed instrument which
was named the Geige from its primary association with dancing." The
evidence we have of the use to which the leading instrument was put in
the days of its adolescence is indicative of its having grown up among
dancers, jugglers, and buffoons. In Germany its players gave fame and
name to a distinct class of itinerant minstrels named the Gigeours,
who were often associated with the Jongleurs in their perambulations.
In France, from the days of the Jongleurs to those of Henry IV., and
later to those of Louis XIV., the instrument was wedded to the dance.
In England to the time of Charles II. it was in the hands of the
Fiddler, who accompanied the jig, the hornpipe, the round, and the
North Country frisk.

[Footnote 15: In Carl Engel's "Researches into the Early History of
the Violin Family," 1883, the author disbelieves in the Crwth having
been the lineal ancestor of the Violin, and there can be but little
doubt of the correctness of his opinion.]

[Footnote 16: It is worthy of remark that the Northmen, who invaded
and gave their name to Normandy, carried from their Scandinavian homes
a love of minstrelsy.]

[Footnote 17: Sebastian Wirdung, a priest, published a work in 1511,
in which he describes the bow instruments of his time by the names
Gross-Geigen and Klein-Geigen. The illustration of the Klein-Geige
differs but little from the Rebec; it has three strings, whilst the
Gross-Geige has nine. Further information is supp