Hurdy-gurdy Hungarian lowlands, but was the normal term for the instrument on Csepel island directly south of Budapest. The equivalent names "ninera" and "niněra" are used in Slovakia and the Czech Republic respectively. In Russian and Ukrainian the instrument is called "wheel lyre" ("колёсная лира", "колісна ліра"). In Poland it is called "cranked lyre" (lira korbowa). "Leier", "lant", and related terms today are generally used to refer to members of the lute or lyre family, but historically had a broader range of meaning and were used for many types of stringed instruments. In her overview of the instrument's history, Palmer recorded
Hurdy-gurdy rolls, and more recently by electronic modules. The French call the barrel organ the "Orgue de Barbarie" ("Barbary organ"), while the Germans and Dutch say "Drehorgel" and "draaiorgel" ("turned organ"), instead of "Drehleier" ("turning lyre"). In Czech, the barrel organ is called "Flašinet". A person who plays the hurdy-gurdy is called a hurdy-gurdyist, or (particularly for players of French instruments) viellist. In France, a player is called un sonneur de vielle (literally: ""a sounder of vielle""), un vielleux or un vielleur. Because of the prominence of the French tradition, many instrument and performance terms used in English are commonly taken