spinetta

The spinet is a small harpsichord with a single set of strings running diagonally from the keyboard. The name likely comes from the Italian spina, meaning 'thorn,' referring to the quill plectra that pluck the strings. An alternative etymology traces it to Giovanni Spinetti, a Venetian instrument maker active in the early 16th century whose name appears on surviving instruments dated 1503. The two explanations may be connected—the maker's name itself may derive from spina.

The spinet was the budget harpsichord. It occupied less space, cost less to build, and was easier to maintain than a full-sized harpsichord. In 17th and 18th-century England, the spinet was the instrument of the middle class—families who wanted a keyboard but could not afford or accommodate a harpsichord. Samuel Pepys owned a spinet and mentions it repeatedly in his diary.

English spinet makers like Thomas Hitchcock and John Player produced instruments of remarkable quality in the late 17th century. Their wing-shaped cases, often made of walnut with marquetry decoration, are now museum pieces. The Hitchcock spinet, with its distinctive bentside shape, defined the English domestic instrument for decades.

The piano killed the spinet, as it killed most keyboard instruments of the 18th century. Bartolomeo Cristofori's invention, which could play soft and loud (piano e forte), offered dynamic range that no plucked keyboard could match. By 1800, the spinet was a relic. The word survived in the 20th century as a brand name for small upright pianos—a misleading usage, since a spinet piano has hammers, not quills. The thorn that gave the instrument its name was replaced by felt.