On tonight’s Academy Awards, when Sting was performing “You Will Be My Ain True Love” he played this weird looking instrument that resembled a lute crossed with a giant violin. On the side of the instrument was a crank handle that he turned with his left hand, and that seemed to be all he did with the thing (and I couldn’t hear what kind of music was coming out of it, either.) What the hell was that instrument?
And what kind of word is “Ain”??
It’s called a hurdy gurdy.
Here are some pictures:
http://www.backunmusical.com/images/hurdy%20gurdy.jpg
[sub][sup]P.S. I learned this from the GQ thread asking the same question![/sup][/sub]
Made famous, to people who didn’t know what it was,by Donovan’s 1968 hit (and later remake by the Butthole Surfers) Hurdy Gurdy Man
My high school European History teacher was a hurdy gurdy player. Did Renaissance Fairs a lot. Perhaps Sting playing it will make the instrument cool again. 
After perusing the lyrics quickly, I’m betting “ain” is Old(e) or Middle(e) English or Scottish or something similar.
ain is Scottish dialect for own. Robert Burns wrote a song, This Is No My Ain Lassie.