Vihuela

Vihuela (Sp.) [see: fiddle], 1. originally a generic term for chordophones in Spain, whether bowed or plucked. Bermudo wrote (in 1555) of the “vihuela that Mercury invented”; a Libro de caballería of 1460 mentions “miges viules,” small fiddles, and Tinctoris wrote (in 1484) that the guitar was called vihuela in Spain. Ultimately the different types were distinguished by qualifications such as vihuela de mano for the finger-plucked, vihuela de peñola or de péndola for the plectrum-plucked, and…