[Ads-l] mouth organ, harmonicon, harmonica

[Jonathan Lighter]

'Harmonica'

1866: OED

1863 _New-York Herald_ (Dec. 15) 1: The common harmonicon, known to
schoolboys as the "mouth organ."

("Harmonicon"; 1876, OED.)

There are earlier exx., but they're at least as likely to refer to panpipes
or even Jew's-harps.

II

Harmonica

'Jew's-harp'

 Not in OED.

1825 _Caledonian Mercury_ [Edinburgh) (June 16) 2: The Jews [sic] Harp ...
A.M. Eulenstein, from Heilbron, has invented a new instrument, or rather
improved the little instrument already spoken of, which he calls the Mouth
Harmonica, on which he has been performing various pieces of music, much to
the astonishment and delight of numerous private circles.

 JL
-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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