A stringed musical instrument with a round body and a neck, popular during the Renaissance and played by plucking the strings.
From Arabic al-'ud (the wood), borrowed into European languages through Spanish laud and then into English around the 1500s. The instrument and its name traveled from the Islamic world into medieval Europe.
The lute traveled from the Arab world into Europe with the same name it carries today — al-'ud became lute through languages passing it along like a musical game of telephone. Medieval Europeans fell in love with the instrument before Shakespeare was born, and it's still considered one of the most expressive stringed instruments ever created.
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