< Back to Articles
Where Did “Catgut” Come From?
By Adam Guggemos
In the world of musical strings, the term “catgut” is a misnomer; it does not actually involve cats.
The use of animal intestines for strings dates back many, many centuries. These strings, particularly those for the lute or violin chanterelle made from young sheep intestines, were valued for their warm and rich tone. The term “catgut” persisted despite not having any direct association with cats, and it became a colloquial and somewhat confusing name for these strings.
Historically, strings for musical instruments were indeed made from the intestines of various animals, including sheep, cows, and goats. The term “catgut” possibly originated from the word “kitgut” or “kitstring,” where “kit” refers to a pocket fiddle, or pochette — a small violin-like instrument:
“Catgut, to Everyman, prompts speculation as to its feline origin. There is, however, in fact no evidence that the intestine of the cat has ever been used to produce catgut strings*. The name can be traced back to the Arabic cither [zither], an early stringed instrument. The same root is seen in the old name for the dancing master's fiddle, the kit. From kitgut to catgut is an easy etymological step.”
The Story of Catgut - Eldred J. Holder, Ph.D., B. Pharm, Ph.C. (Edin.). Post Graduate Medical Journal, September 1949.
*They certainly were, just not successfully:
“In Italy, it appears that besides the above-mentioned materials, the guts of dogs and sinews of particular kinds of snake were also employed. In 1822 Labaraque describes practical experiments carried out — invariably with unsatisfactory results — on the guts of donkeys, dogs, horses, cats and pigs.”
Roman and Neapolitan Gut Strings 1550-1950 - Patrizio Barbieri. The Galpin Society Journal, Vol. 59, 2006
“The only reference to gut from a cat before Shakespearean times concerns the Arab minstrel Ziryab who reputedly made his strings from the intestines of young lions. A 14th century Middle English text mentions wolf-gut strings.”
Historical Background to the Strings used by Catgut-Scrapers - Ephraim Segerman and Djilda Abbott. The Catgut Acoustical Society Newsletter, No. 25, 1976.
“…The mucus cannot be removed clean from the intestines of the oxen and pigs and other animals; I suspect, however, that work with all sorts of species will also go well if one takes the trouble to try other guts, without fearing that the wolf and mutton strings will not accord with each other, because both animals hated each other in life; the violinist does not despise mutton, and revenge is certainly more discordant among musicians than between wolves and sheep.”
[German] Werkstäte der Heutigen Künste, oder die Neue Kunsthistorie, Sechster Band (Workshops of Today’s Arts, or the New Art History, Sixth Volume) - Johann Samuel. Brandenburg and Leipzig, 1779
Or alternatively, “catgut” maybe originated from the nautical term “catline” or “cathead line”:
“Before we conclude, let us return to the origins of the term ‘Catgut.’ As said before, feline cats had nothing to do with it, but the nautical term ‘catline’ did [This is incorrect, based on my research; it was called ‘catrope’ – Dan Larson]. The nautical associations quickly lost their interest, but the slight linguistic transformation into ‘catling’ introduced another, more attractive association which made the name stick for more than a generation. A catling was also a small cat, and stroking an object for pleasure applies equally to lutes as to kittens.* A combination of the cat association with the disgusting-entrails association of the material of the string led to the term ‘cat guts’ as a pejorative to apply to the bowing of rebecs and violins. In the domestic tragic drama A Warning for Fair Women (1599), probably by Thomas Heyward, appears: ‘What, yet more cat guts? Oh, this filthy sound stifles mine ears … I’ll cut your fiddle strings if you stand scraping thus to anger me.’ The slang use of ‘catgut-scraper’ to denote ‘fiddler’ has lasted till this century. Pejorative names can often become affectionate and finally become commonplace. Thus ‘cats guts’ became the generic term for gut strings, whether they were thin from Rome or Munich, or the thicker Venice Catlines.
The idea that the strings might actually be made from the guts of cats was usually not believed by those who took the trouble to find out. Holme (1688) stated ‘Made of the Guts of Beasts as sheep, etc. though the general name of it is Cats Guts.’ Yet some who were less informed could not be sure. Mary Burwell (c. 1670) wrote ‘The strings were made from sheep’s and cat’s guts…’ We cannot know how seriously Thomas Masters (1603-1643) believed it when, in his delightful poem chastising his errant pet ‘On Lute-Strings Cat-Eaten,’ he wrote:
‘[Are these the strings that poets feign
Have clear’d the Ayre, and calm’d the main?
Charm’d wolves, and from the mountain crests
Made forests dance with all their beasts?
Could these neglected shreds you see
Inspire a Lute of Ivory
And make it speak? Oh! Think then what
Hath been committed by my cat,
Who, in the silence of this night
Hath gnawn these cords, and marr’d them quite;
Leaving such reliques as may be
For frets, not for my lute, but me.
Puss, I will curse thee: Mayst thou dwell
With some dry hermit in a cell
Where Rat ne’re peeped, where mouse ne’re fed
And flies go supperless to bed
Or with some close-pared Brother, where
Thou’lt fast each Sabbath in the year,
Or else, prophane, be hang’d on Monday
For butchering a mouse on Sunday
Or mays’t thou tumble from some tower
And miss to light upon all four
Taking a fall that may untie
Eight of nine lives, and let them fly.
Or may the midnight embers singe
Thy dainty coat, or Jane beswinge
Thy hide, when she shall take thee biting
Her cheese clouts, or her house beshiting.
What, was there ne’re a rat or mouse
Nor buttery ope? Nought in the house
But harmless lutestrings could suffice
Thy paunch, and draw thy glaring eyes?]
Did not thy conscious stomach find
Nature prophaned, that kind with kind
should staunch his hunger? Thinke on that,
thou cannibal and Cyclops cat;
for know, thou wretch, that every string
is a cat gut, which art doth spin**
into a thread; [and now suppose
Dunstan, that snuff’d the divel’s nose
Should bid these strings revive, as once
He did the calf, from naked bones,
Or I, to plague thee for thy sin
Should draw a circle, and begin
To conjure, for I am, look to’t
An Oxford scholar, and can doo’t:
Then with three sets of mops and mows
Seven of odd words, and motley shows
A thousand tricks, that may be taken
From Faustus, Lamb, or Friar Bacon
I should begin to call my strings
(My catlings, and my minikins)
And they, recalled, straight should fall
To mew, to purr, to caterwaul
From Puss’s belly. Sure, as death
Puss should be an Engastranith;
Puss should be sent for to the King
For a strange bird, or some rare thing,
Puss should be sought to far and near
As she some Cunning Woman were,
Puss should be carried up and down
From shire to shire, from town to town
Like to the camel, lean as hag,
The elephant, or apish nag
For a strange sight, Puss should be sung
In lousy ballads, midst the throng
At markets, with as good a grace
As Agincourt, or Chevy Chase
The Troy-sprung Briton would forgo
His pedigree he chaunteth so
And sing that Merlin – long deceased
Returned is in a nine-liv’d beast.
Thus Puss, thou seest what might betide thee –
But I forbear to hurt or chide thee
For maybe Puss was melancholy
And so to make her blithe and jolly
Finding these strings, she’d have a fit
Of mirth, nay, Puss, if that were it
Thus I revenge me, that as thou
Hast played on them, I’ve played on you
And as thy touch was nothing fine
So I’ve but scratched these notes of mine.]’
In conclusion, cats guts are fictional as string materials. Nevertheless catgut (as a generic term with no feline connections) has been an essential ingredient in the history of the violin.
*Shakespeare referred to catlings as gut strings twice, in Romeo and Juliet (1592) IV, v, 132 and Troilus and Cressida (1606) III, iii, 306, without, surprisingly, making use of any cat associations.
**Notice the rhyme here, where the equivalent word endings are just those which distinguish Catling from Catline (modern pronunciation is misleading here).”
Historical Background to the Strings used by Catgut-Scrapers - Ephraim Segerman and Djilda Abbott. The Catgut Acoustical Society Newsletter, No. 25, pp. 24-26, 1976.
So, to the origin of the term “catgut”: A pocket fiddle? A young lamb? Any animal gut? A kitten? A zither? A rope? Welsh? French? An amalgam? Today the answer is still not definitive. What can be said with certainty is that the term “catgut” has been in use to describe gut musical strings since at least the late 16th century, and has been raising eyebrows and eliciting chuckles and mild revulsion ever since.
#
Hand-made in the USA by Gamut Music, Inc., a leader in the revival of early music strings and instruments. Gut strings are not intended to be used with fine tuners or string adjusters, and those devices should be removed before installing the gut string on the instrument.
All Gamut Academie strings (pure gut and gut/metal-wound) are made with beef serosa unless they specifically say “sheep gut.” All pure gut Tricolore violin and viola strings are made with sheep gut; gut/metal-wound Tricolore and all Red Diamond strings are made with beef serosa.
Gamut gut string gauges are approximate (≈) diameter. Meaning, that while a ≈0.60mm string is polished in the workshop to a diameter of 0.60mm, changes in ambient humidity, temperature, shipping, and storage conditions can cause to string to expand or contract slightly.
Gimped gut strings and custom gauged equal tension strings are gauged with the equivalent-gauge (=) system. This means that the gauge listed, such as =1.50mm, indicates that the string is approximately equal in weight to a plain gut string of that diameter. Of course, because the wire is much heavier than gut, the string will be much thinner than a plain gut string.
More information about Gamut gut strings, string types, gauges, and string tensions can be found on our FAQ/Articles page. Not finding an answer to your question? Please contact us directly: support@gamutmusic.com.