tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-288097430196262248.post3553337662830597187..comments2024-03-14T22:27:40.481-05:00Comments on <a href="http://www.feinviolins.com">The Violin Shop</a>: Why a Frog? Why Are There Frogs on Bows?The Violin Shophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17828233461679065727noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-288097430196262248.post-56066635713705594712016-08-01T01:54:53.666-05:002016-08-01T01:54:53.666-05:00The proper name for what you refer to as a 'fr...The proper name for what you refer to as a 'frog', among English bow making since the days of Dodd, is 'nut'. The French equivalent is 'hausse' which translates as ‘rise’. The purpose of the nut is to make a space between the hair and the stick so the stick can have a significant amount of inward curve and yet the hair doesn’t contact it – the hair rises off the stick.<br /><br />In Germany there was a word for a riser block used in an engineering workshop similarly to separate items (or to move them closer together) – that word was ‘frosch’. It has now dropped out of use but the term stuck for the violin bow part, translated as ‘frog’ and that bizarre usage went into German trade catalogues and soon became adopted as the universal word for the item. There is also the name for the block attached to the bed of a woodworking plane that changes the angle of the blade and lifts it away from the bed – it’s also called a frog. Nobody else seems to have made that connection, so sadly, it isn’t about the creature at all.<br /><br />Andrew, U.K.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-288097430196262248.post-78760981307328335312013-06-28T18:11:18.003-05:002013-06-28T18:11:18.003-05:00A friend sent me this link, after talking with a b...A friend sent me this link, after talking with a budding bowmaker last night. What a treasure trove this page. Thank you for all the info and the beautiful pictures, as well as the lovely music!!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com