Bow

BOW, a common Teutonic word for anything bent'. Thus it is found in English compound words, e.g., "elbow," "rainbow," "bow-net," "bow-window," "bow-knot," "saddle-bow," and by itself as the designation of a great variety of objects. The Old English use of "bow" or stone-bow, for "arch," now obsolete, survives in certain names of churches and places, e.g., Bow church (St. Mary-in-Arcubus) in Cheapside, and Stratf ord-le Bow (the "Stratford-atte-Bowe" of Chaucer). "Bow," however, is still the designation of objects so various as an appliance for shooting arrows (see ARCHERY) , a necktie in the form of a bow knot, a ring or hoop forming a handle (e.g., the bow of a watch), certain instruments or tools used in various crafts, and the stick strung with horsehair by means of which the strings of instru ments of the violin family are set in vibration. It is with this last that the present article is solely concerned.

Bow in Music.

The modern bow consists of five parts, i.e., the "stick," the screw or "ferrule," the "nut," the "hair" and the "head." The stick, in high-grade bows, is made of Brazilian lance-wood (Duguetia quitarensis) or of snake-wood (Brosimum aubletii), which alone combine the requisite lightness, elasticity and power of resistance ; for the cheaper bows American oak is used, and for the double-bass bow beech. It is cut absolutely straight and parallel along its whole length with the fibre of the wood; it is then bent by heat until it is slightly convex to the hair and has assumed the elegant cambrure first given to it by Francois Tourte The length of the stick was fixed by Tourte at to 29.528 in. The centre of gravity in a well-balanced violin bow should be at 19 cm. (7 2 to 71 in.) from the nut.

The screw or ferrule, at the cylindrical end of the stick held by the hand, provides the means of tightening or loosening the tension of the hair.

The hair is chosen from the best white horsehair, and each of the hairs (some 120 in number) which compose the half-inch wide ribbon of the bow must be perfectly cylindrical and smooth. Tourte attached the greatest importance to the hairing of the bow, and bestowed quite as much attention upon it as upon the '"Bow," the forepart or head of a ship, must be distinguished from this word. It is the same word, and pronounced in the same way, as "bough," an arm or limb of a tree, and represents a common Teutonic word, seen in O.E. bog, Ger. Bug, shoulder, and is cognate with Gr. ,rixus forearm. The sense of "shoulder" of a ship is not found in O.E. bog, but was probably borrowed from Dutch or Danish. "Bow," an inclination of the head or body, though pronounced as "bough," is of the same origin as "bow," to bend.

stick. When passed between the fingers in the direction from root to tip, the hair glides smoothly and offers no resistance, but passed in the opposite direction it feels rough, suggesting a regular succession of minute projections. The outer epithelium or sheath of the hair is composed of minute scales which produce a succession of infinitesimal shocks when the hair is drawn across the strings; the force and uniformity of these shocks, resulting in vibrations of equal persistency, are considerably heightened by the application of resin to the hair. In hairing the bow, alternate hairs are laid in opposite directions, so that the up and down strokes may be equal, and a pure and even tone obtained.

The head, i in. long and

in. wide at the plate, is cut in one piece with the stick, an operation which requires delicate work manship; otherwise the head is liable to snap at this point during a sforzando passage.

The model bow here described, elaborated by Francois Tourte as long ago as between 1775 and according to Fetis, or between 1785 and 1790 according to Vidal, has not since been surpassed.

The question of the origin of the bow still remains a matter of conjecture, but it undoubtedly came from the East, having been borrowed by the Greeks of Asia Minor and the Arabs from a common source—probably India, by way of Persia.

The earliest bow known in Europe was associated with the rebab (q.v.), the most widely used bowed instrument until the 12th century, but its development began only from the time when it was applied to the guitar (q.v.) which then became the guitar fiddle (q.v.), the immediate forerunner of the viols.

As soon as Corelli (1653-1713) formulated the principles of the technique of the violin, marked modifications in the construc tion of the bow became noticeable. Tartini introduced further improvements, such as a lighter wood for the stick, a straight contour, and a shorter head, in order to give better equilibrium. The Tourtes, father and son, accomplished the rest.