timotheus had twelve
Preserved but no longer current.
It was played either with the fingers or with a plectrum. The lyre is called by poets a "shell," because the cords of the lyre used by Orpheus, Amphion, and Apollo were stretched on the shell of a tortoise. Hercules used boxwood.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “timotheus had twelve” mean?
It was played either with the fingers or with a plectrum. The lyre is called by poets a "shell," because the cords of the lyre used by Orpheus, Amphion, and Apollo were stretched on the shell of a tortoise. Hercules used boxwood.
Is “timotheus had twelve” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.