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Probably onomatopoeic in imitation of the sound produced by the stringed instrument. Compare obsolete hirdy-girdy(“an uproar; noise”). Attested from the 1740s.
(music) A stringed instrument that produces a droning sound by turning a handle that connects to a wheel that rubs against a rosined string, with a keyboard also used to alter the pitch of the string.
2009, Keith McLaren, A Race for Real Sailors, page 20:
A pair of oars, a small mast and sail, pen boards to contain the fish, a bailer, a water jar, a bait knife, a compass, a small wooden winch called a hurdy gurdy, a fish gaff, and the tubs, trawls, floats, and anchors used to set gear was all that was required to equip it.
1995, Jones, Tanya, Ophelia O. and the mortgage bandits, →OCLC:
“You mean when she read that God-awful poem in her hurdy-gurdy Swedish chef accent?
1996, Svensson, Charlotte Rosen, Culture shock!, →OCLC:
Swedes are often said to sing while they speak. (Listen to Floyd, the Muppet’s Swedish chef, singing “Hurdy Gurdy” and you’ll understand this.)
2009, The great big bumper book of marmite, →OCLC:
Just don’t do what the Swedish chef from The Muppet Show does and start playing tennis with the meatballs, or start waving your cooking utensils about the kitchen and shouting ‘hurdy gurdy’ at your mates.
