One of These Things is Not Like the Other

Violins and fiddles are really the same thing – or, are they? Often, many people tend to confuse the two terms (“violin” and “fiddle”), but trained musicians know that there is a subtle difference between the two. Although both instruments appear to look the same, one is not quite like the other.

To begin separating the instruments, one must first look to the etymology of both words. The word “violin” comes from the Italian language, and the word “fiddle” is derived from English. Immediately, the two are strikingly different, but this is not enough to keep them distinct in the grand scheme of things. So, let’s look to history instead. The fiddle should be seen as the violin’s distant ancestors, since the fiddle really came onto the musical scene far before the violin did. When it was first created, the fiddle contained four strings and it came in a number of different shapes. Later on, the fiddle was often cut at the bridge and played in a manner that a violin could not be played in, which marked the two instruments very different from one another. One last difference can be seen in the type of material that is used to make fiddle strings. Most fiddle strings are made from steel stings, which violins tend not to be made from. In fact, most classical musicians will not use steel strings, and it is very rare to see a violin strung with metal strings.

To recap, a fiddle has four metal stings, it is relatively flat at the bridge, and it is played in an entirely different manner. A violin usually has four strings as well, but the strings are made from natural materials, and a violin is much more curved than a fiddle. Of course, these distinctions are somewhat minuscule, why has prompted sayings such as: “When you are buying it, it’s a fiddle. When you are selling it, it’s a violin” over the centuries, but when it comes down to it, a violin is not a fiddle at all.