The lyre, the favourite musical instrument
of the Greeks, was only known to the Romans
as a foreign invention. Hence they appear to
have described its parts by a comparison with
the loom, with which they were ^miliar. Tke
terms jngwn and ttamina were transfer!^ by
an obvious resemblance from the \»£ter to the
former object ; and, although they adopted into
their own language the Greek word plectrum,
they used the hBtinpeeten to denote the same
diin^; not because the instrument used in
fltrfting the lyre was at all like a comb in shape
and appearance, but because it was held in tne
riffht band, and inserted between the stamina
of the lyre, as the comb was between the
stamina of the loom.
