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 from the French, and players generally need to know these terms to read relevant literature. Such common terms include the following: According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the mid 18th century origin of the term "hurdy-gurdy" is onomatopoeic in origin, after the repetitive warble in pitch that characterizes instruments with solid wooden wheels that have warped due to changes in humidity or after the sound of the buzzing-bridge. Alternately, the term is thought to come from the Scottish and northern English term for uproar or disorder, "hirdy-girdy" or from "hurly-burly", an old English term for noise or commotion. The instrument