Mysteries of vernacular: Ukulele - Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel

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When 19th century Portuguese travelers landed in Hawaii with a small four-stringed guitar, a member of the king's court, nicknamed Jumping Flea, or ukulele in Hawaiian, took to the instrument. Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel explain how an affinity for the ukulele gave the instrument its name.

Lesson by Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel, animation by Jessica Oreck.

Mysteries of vernacular:

Ukulele,

a small, four-stringed guitar.

Oddly enough, the word ukulele,

in its native Hawaiian,

literally translates to jumping flea.

Even more surprising,

the instrument itself did not originate in Hawaii.

So, how did a Hawaiian word

come to describe a non-Hawaiian instrument?

Back in the late 1800s,

King Kalākaua was the last reigning king

of the kingdom of Hawaii.

He was nicknamed "The Merry Monarch"

because of his joy for life

and, in particular, his love of music.

In the King's court,

there was a former British army officer

named Edward Purvis.

Though a small man,

he was quite lively,

and his nickname was "Jumping Flea,"

"Ukulele" in Hawaiian.

Like the King, he was a great lover of music.

In 1879, a group of Portuguese immigrants

arrived on the islands of Hawaii,

bringing with them a small, four-stringed guitar

known as a braguinha.

Purvis was immediately taken with the instrument

and helped spread its popularity

throughout the King's court.

As the story goes,

it was not long before his nickname, Ukulele,

jumped from the man to his favorite instrument.

As demand grew, several Portuguese families

began to manufacture

the minuscule guitar on the islands,

making small modifications

until it became the same ukulele we recognize today.