Fleas? Or no?

UkuleleThreads

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I have always thought ukulele meant "dancing flea", so when I made the sticker below, it was to be funny. But, I read an article on the Martin 3K a while back said the following:

"The word "ukulele" is most often translated as "jumping fleas," a possible reference to Edward Purvis, a small, nimbe braguinha player who was nicknamed "Ukulele," Another inspiration for the "jumping fleas" reference was the movement of the player's hand. Queen Lili'uokalani, Hawaii's last monarch and a uke player herself, promoted a more poetic origin; "uku," in addition to being a flea, is a gift, a reward, or a payment, while "lele" is used for a range of movements, so the Queen maintained that the "ukulele" meant a gift that was brought to Hawaii."

I think it's a beautiful idea that the ukulele means "gift". Thoughts?

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Yeah most people seem to accept the first story over the second, but I'm not sure why. I saw this debate when ukulele versus 'ukulele came up. The camp that says this ' is correct, tend to not know, or know and dismiss, the second. It kinda makes both 'ukulele and ukulele correct, depending on which origin story you believe.
 
I think that back then, the Portuguese Navy thought of itself as Godlike, given its dominance of the oceans at the time, so in that sense "gift from God" would be be a reasonable reference to the historical events that brought the machete (which would become the ukulele) to Hawaii.

I do feel bad for Hawaiian dogs, though. Any mainland dog will tell you that a flea is not a gift.
 
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the "gift from heaven" sticker was to be funny, because us Uke players love it so much, not an actual translation. But, I did find it interesting that uku can also be a small gift, and that the last Queen of Hawaii said that was the correct translation of "ukulele".
 
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