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 is sometimes more descriptively called a "wheel fiddle" in English, but this term is rarely used among players of the instrument. Another possible derivation is from the Hungarian "hegedűs" (Slovenian variant "hrgadus") meaning a fiddle. In France, the instrument is known as "vielle à roue" (wheel fiddle) or simply "vielle" (even though there is another instrument with this name), while in the French-speaking regions of Belgium it is also known in local dialects as "vièrlerète/vièrlète" or "tiesse di dj'va" ('horse's head'). The Flemings and the Dutch call it a "draailier", which is similar to its German name, "Drehleier". An alternate