Viol meaning
Any of a family of stringed instruments, chiefly of the 1500s and 1600s, having a fretted fingerboard, usually six strings, and a flat back and played with a curved bow.
noun
Any of an early family of stringed instruments played with a curved bow, characterized generally by six strings, frets, a flat back, and C-shaped sound holes: used chiefly in the 16th and 17th cent. in sizes from the treble viol to the bass viol.
noun
Origin of viol
- Alteration of Middle English viel from Old French viole, vielle from Old Provençal viola viola1
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition