Why is the frog named so? (2024)

Aasheeta Dimick

September 23, 2007 at 10:04 PM · I spent most of my time in school learning how to make up answers, so here is an outlandish guess:

There is a "frog" term used with swords... a wide band, or system of smaller leather straps, that bind a sword scabbard onto a sword belt. The binding draws everything together, but the sword frog remains mobile. A bow frog serves the same function, bringing all of the parts together, while retaining a level of mobility.

The word "frog" (in the case of swords) can be traced back to the words "floccus" and "froco", which both point to the modern word flock. Again we encounter the idea of multiple things (in this case, sheep or other herd animals) flocking together, remaining mobile and functioning as a whole. – It is interesting to note that sheep leather was choice for making sword belts and scabbards, as lanolin oil (fat contained within animal hair) prevented blades from rusting. The term sword "frog" probably derived from the source of the material (sheep), as well as its intended function (drawings things together).

So my outlandish guess is that the word "frog" is a slow evolution of the word "froco", referring to a mobile gathering point.

Inconceivable!

September 23, 2007 at 10:54 PM · The beauty of speciousness: if you say something with enough authority, people will tend to believe it. It's how I got such good grades in school without actually studying much. *grin*

And, heck. Your explanation makes as much sense as any others I might come across, so why not? ;)

September 23, 2007 at 11:05 PM · http://www.violinist.com/discussion/response.cfm?ID=8725

The above previous discussion has some theories.

September 24, 2007 at 03:05 AM · I never questioned why it's called a frog... To a 6-year-old mind, it really DOES look like a frog!

September 24, 2007 at 03:35 AM · It's got two eyes and a long, sticky tongue. What else could you call it? A ptarmigan?

September 24, 2007 at 09:24 AM · Tell them it's called a frog "caused if it were called a toad then you'd gets warts.

November 11, 2007 at 07:37 PM · Well... if your bow arm is too heavy when you're playing near the frog, you get a croaking sound... ;)

November 12, 2007 at 10:54 AM · In French it is called 'talon'(heel)

In Dutch it is 'slof' (slipper)

In German it is 'Frosch' (frog)

In Dutch the animal frog is called 'kikker'.

The same word 'kikker' also means cleat, a device on boats which is used to attache a rope.

Who knows, there might be a connection there.

November 12, 2007 at 12:56 PM · This probably isn't why, but I had a student who owns horses tell me this year that the middle part of a horse's hoof is called a "frog". Maybe since the bow uses horse hair there is some connection there. Doubtful, to be sure, but as good as anything else.

November 12, 2007 at 01:48 PM · In French it is called "talon" (heel), however, also in French "on frotte les cordes du violon". From the verb "frotter".

November 12, 2007 at 06:27 PM · Apparently, why it is called a "frog" is quite obscure. It could indeed be that it is the key part that "holds" the bow together. I've also read that it is called the frog because of the way it's held - i.e., with the little finger over it and the thumb curved around the "stomach" of the bow, maybe someone thought that this is the way you should hold a real frog.

But the word "frog" has so many different meanings, that why this one is really strange. For example, a frog is also a disparaging term for someone who is French. It also is a metal holder that keeps things like flower stems in place in a bowl. It is also part of a horse's hoof. It is also a button on a coat, an attachment to a belt that holds a sword, and that grooved piece of iron where railroad tracks cross.

But my favorite definition (according to big-time dictionaries) is that frog is an acronym for numerous terms, such as Fresh Reservoir Oxygen Generator, Faithfully Relying on God, Four Really Old Guys, and others.

Therefore, my final answer....is that the frog on a violin is named so because it stands for Fiddling Rogues Ooze Gas.

:) Sandy

November 12, 2007 at 10:48 PM · Greetings,

I love the acronym thing. I belive it should become part of the language of the violin sub culture. For example, when a string quartet continues playing in public for just too long the review could save a lot of time by just writng FROG in the Strad or whatever. It would save a lot of time. For over the hill piano trios one would have TROG of corse. And for those who think women are being ignored it could be FROGG (four really old guys and gals-or the reverse if you have a childess obsession with PC)

Cheers,

Buri

November 12, 2007 at 11:20 PM · Maybe you could go up the other end for a string trio with TIP - Three Inebriated Players?

November 13, 2007 at 03:49 AM · It must be Halloween. This thread just rose from the dead.

November 13, 2007 at 04:37 AM · Never heard of anyone rising from the dead on Halloween. Now on Easter, yes.

November 13, 2007 at 05:51 AM · Greetings,

on the contrary Gary, I believe the whole point of Halloween is thta all sorts of nasty things did rise from the dead - something to do with equinoxes in the North of England. Prunes are not responsible this time.

Cheers,

Buri

November 13, 2007 at 11:52 AM · Oh man, if we ever get a violinist.com convention happening, I'm so forming a string quartet called Prune Juice