Here's an interesting bit of history
about the harmonica. It seems that when Napoleon was digging up those old tunes
in Egypt he also uncovered the instruments used to play the tunes. A mouth organ
fitted with reeds, from the Reed Sea. He also discovered that many of the tomb
paintings are actually illustrations of the dance steps used to accompany the
music. Napoleon loved the instrument and the music and wished to share it with
the rest of Europe, so he called it the Hamtrombonium, in honor of Ham, the
biblical founder of Egypt, and began on his quest of spreading the joy to the
rest of the world. But folks got the name confused with the Harmonica invented
by Ben Franklin a few years before, and anyway Napoleon had a hard time
pronouncing the hard consonants in the word Hamtrombonium. The French have what is
known as a lazy tongue and try to avoid consonants, replacing them with vowels.
Probably from eating snails. This is illustrated by the fact that the word
Fiddle, when spoken by a Frenchman, sounds something like Violin, from which we
get that word. In France snails are thought of as a venison. The dance that
accompanies the music came to be known as Hambone, as depicted in the tomb
paintings. Along with the music we Americans acquired these treasures from Egypt
in 1803 with the Louisiana Purchase. And that is why the Harmonica is known as
the French Harp. Or it could be because you use your tongue to play it.
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