A Small Matter

Minikin
A thin string of gut used for the treble string of a lute or viol.

The Oxford Universal Dictionary offers the surprise that the mini- half of the word has nothing to do with being small; it is, in fact, derived from the Middle Dutch minne, love. The -kin half is the diminutive (c.f. lambkin, and its ilk). The word was, in fact, originally a term of endearment for a girl.

I am rather curious to know whether it came into use to refer to a particular string merely because of its accidental resemblance to English terms for tiny, or whether there was, at first, some poetic or punning association that fit the original meaning and the musical context both. At any rate, it seems a reasonably useful word to revive, expanded to include a wide interpretation of gut-type strings and lute-type instruments.