In teaching my students the
clefs I use what may be a suspect
etymology, which
Webster 1913 hints at. But it is, nevertheless, reasonably effective.
As French is a common second, or even first language in Canada, I tell my students that the clef is the key to unlocking the names of the lines and spaces. The French for this is cle or clef, as in roman a clef;.
I also tell them, as Webster 1913 points out, that the clefs are probably corruptions or modifications of the letters C, F, and G. They don't usually believe it. Would you?
In the word cle there is a rising accent on the e, and in roman a clef there is a falling accent on the a.
But legbagede and his node Special Alt key characters & accents notwithstanding, I cannot make the accents work with my OS and browser (now Windows ME, and I.E. 5.5). So, I'm stuck.