Where does the word "ukulele" come from?

The word was in Hawaiian before the instrument was. Ukulele Magazine notes that an 1865 dictionary defined it as "a cat flea," and Etymonline says English writers recorded it as the Hawaiian word for flea before 1896.

The parts are clear enough. Etymonline breaks 'ukulele into 'uku, "louse, flea," and lele, "to fly, jump, leap." The hard question is why a guitar-like instrument ended up called a leaping flea.

The instrument itself came from Portugal's islands. In August 1879 the British ship Ravenscrag reached Honolulu with immigrants from Madeira, after a voyage of about four months. Among them were three Funchal woodworkers: Manuel Nunes, Augusto Dias and José do Espírito Santo. Ukulele Magazine says the early ukulele took its size from the small Madeiran machête and its tuning from the rajão. King Kalākaua, the "Merrie Monarch," championed it.

Then come the rival stories for the name.

Fast fingers. Etymonline's explanation is the rapid motion of a player's fingers. A related legend, told by Classical Music magazine, says islanders watched the Ravenscrag passenger João Fernandes play and named the instrument for his speed.

A man's nickname. Edward Purvis, a British army officer who served as vice-chamberlain to Kalākaua, is said by popular legend to have played the machête. The story says Hawaiians nicknamed the small, quick-fingered Purvis "jumping flea," and the name passed to the instrument. Modern historians doubt it. Historians John King and Jim Tranquada argue that the nickname of a man who sought to undermine the king is unlikely to have named an instrument native Hawaiians loved.

A gift. Classical Music magazine reports that Princess Likelike said the name meant "the gift that came to here," and calls this the possibly more credible story. Omniglot, citing the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, gives a matching reading: uku, "tribute, reward," plus lele, "to land, disembark."

Other proposals exist, including a link to the 'ūkēkē, a Hawaiian musical bow. The Ukulele Guild of Hawai'i, quoted by Omniglot, simply calls the name's origin uncertain.

What the record shows is spelling in flux. Omniglot reports "ukelele" in an 1891 travel book and "ukulele" in the Hawaiian Gazette in 1895. The short form uke follows by 1915, according to Etymonline. The flea is certain. Which flea, nobody can prove.