Meaning of the term

Bowed instruments are stringed instruments played with a bow. The sound is produced by the action of the bow being pulled across the strings or, in some cases, by striking with the wood of the bow. On these instruments sounds may also be produced by plucking with the fingers. The most common are the four different members of the violin family: the instruments of the viola da gamba family the predecessors of these families, the fidel and the rebec the lira da braccio and its variants.

1200's rebec

1500's fidel

lira da braccio

Other early types of bowed instrument include the Welsh lyre or crawth , the Nordic jouhikko, the Icelandic langspil and the Swedish fretted zither. The keyed fiddle (nyckelharpa) and the hurdy-gurdy may also be counted among the bowed instruments. The development of bowed instruments has been traced back as far as the ninth century, with roots in Central Asia. The instruments of the violin family became dominant among bowed instruments as early as the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.