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Origin and history of violin

violin(n.)

the instrument is the modern form of the smaller medieval viola da braccio; the name is by 1570s in English, from Italian violino, diminutive of viola (see viola). Also compare viol.

Entries linking to violin

stringed musical instrument common 15c.-18c., essentially similar to a lute or guitar but played with a bow, c. 1500, vial, probably from Old French viole, viol, name of a stringed instrument like a fiddle, from Old Provençal viola, from Medieval Latin vitula (see viola), and compare fiddle (n.).

In Promptorium Parvulorum (mid-15c.) "to play the viol" is, in English, both fydelin and fyielyn. Violour, "one who plays the viol," is attested by late 12c. as a surname (Turstano le Violour).

"tenor violin," 1797, from Italian viola, from Old Provençal viola, from Medieval Latin vitula "stringed instrument," perhaps from Vitula, Roman goddess of joy (see fiddle), or from related Latin verb vitulari "to exult, be joyful, celebrate a holiday," which is probably related to vivere "to live." Viola da gamba "bass viol" (1724) is from Italian, literally "a viola for the leg" (i.e. to hold between the legs).

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