Glēo-bēam

Glēo-bēam (OEngl.), word in use up to the 13th c., glossed as musicum lignum, harpa, tympanum, and said to denote the med. harp. Beowulf used the expression. “Glēo” has been translated as “glee,” and Otto Anderssen surmised the term to be related to the harp of Finn. folk songs, an instr. called “joy.” However, the word harpa denoted chiefly the (bowed) lyre in N. Europe, not the harp. Furthermore, *nares-jux also means “music wood” in Ostyak, the instr. in question being a lyre (180, 189)…