View source for Oud

{{Short description|Pear-shaped stringed musical instrument}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Other uses|Oud (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox instrument
| name           = Oud
| image          = File:Ūd MET DP340079.jpg
| image_capt     = Oud crafted by Emmanuel Venious in 1916
| background     = string
| classification = *[[String instruments]]
*[[Lute|Necked bowl lutes]]
| hornbostel_sachs = 321.321-6
| hornbostel_sachs_desc = Composite [[chordophone]] sounded with a [[plectrum]]
| developed      = [[Islamic Golden Age]]
| range          =
| related        = {{collapsible list|
*[[Angélique (instrument)|Angélique]]
*[[Archlute]]
*[[Barbat (lute)]]
*[[Baglamas|Baglamadaki]]
*[[Bağlama]]
*[[Bipa]]
*[[Biwa]]
*[[Bouzouki]]
*[[Çifteli]]
*[[Cobza]]
*[[Cümbüş]]
*[[Daguangxian]]
*[[Đàn tỳ bà]]
*[[Dombra]]
*[[Domra]]
*[[Dutar]]
*[[Kobza]]
*[[Lavta]]
*[[Liuqin]]
*[[Lute]]
*[[Mandocello]]
*[[Mandola]]
*[[Mandolin]]
*[[Mandolute]]
*[[Pandura]]
*[[Pipa]]
*[[Qanbus]]
*[[Rud]]
*[[Šargija]]
*[[Bağlama|Saz]]
*[[Setar]]
*[[Tanbur]]
*[[Tanbur (Turkish)]]
*[[Tar (Azerbaijani instrument)]]
*[[Tembûr]]
*[[Theorbo]]
*[[Torban]]}}
| sound sample   = {{listen
| embed    = yes
| filename = OUD.ogg
| title = ''Hob Eh''
| description = Introduction of {{langx|ar|حب إيه|Hob Eh}}, composed by [[Baligh Hamdi]]}}
}}
{{Infobox intangible heritage
| Image       =
| Caption     =
| ICH         = Crafting and playing the Oud
| Countries   = [[Iran]] and [[Syria]]
| ID          = 01867
| Region      =
| Year        = 2022
| Session     = 17th
| List        = Representative
}}

The '''oud''' ({{IPAc-en|uː|d}} {{respell|OOD}}; {{langx|ar|عُود|ʿūd}}, {{IPA|ar|ʕuːd|pron}})<ref>{{cite web |year=1971 |title=The Arab World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o54eAAAAMAAJ&q=oud+arabic+origin+word+instrument}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |year=1984 |title=Arab Perspectives |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DdEMAQAAMAAJ&q=oud+arabic+origin+word+instrument}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=oud—Definition of oud in English by Oxford Dictionaries |url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/oud |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190403010505/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/oud |archive-date=3 April 2019 |access-date=3 October 2018 |website=Oxford Dictionaries—English}}</ref> is a [[Middle Eastern]] short-neck [[lute]]-type, [[pear]]-shaped, fretless [[String instrument|stringed instrument]]<ref>{{Cite news|last=Mackle|first=Jenna |date=July 5, 2020 |title=The Oud Instrument |newspaper=Ethnic Musical |url=https://www.ethnicmusical.com/oud/oud-instrument/}}</ref> (a [[chordophone]] in the [[Hornbostel–Sachs|Hornbostel–Sachs classification of instruments]]), usually with 11 strings grouped in six [[Course (music)|courses]], but some models have five or seven courses, with 10 or 13 strings respectively.

The oud is similar to other types of lute, and to Western lutes which developed out of the [[Islamic Golden Age|Medieval Islamic]] oud.<ref name="mottola-kyvelos">{{cite journal | last = Mottola | first = R. M. | title = Constructing the Middle Eastern Oud with ter Kyvelos | journal = American Lutherie | issue = 94, 95 | date = Summer–Fall 2008}}</ref> Similar instruments have been used in the [[Middle East]], some predating Islam, such as the [[Barbat (lute)|barbat]] from Persia. Different versions of the oud are used in [[Arabian Peninsula|Arabia]], [[Turkey]], and other Middle Eastern and [[Balkan Region|Balkan regions]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=The archaeomusicology of the Ancient Near East |author=Dumbrill, Richard J. |date=2005 |location=Victoria, B.C. |publisher=Trafford |pages=308 |isbn=9781412055383 |oclc=62430171}}</ref> The oud, as a fundamental difference with the western lute, has no [[fret]]s and a smaller [[neck (guitar)|neck]]. It is the direct successor of the Persian [[Barbat (lute)|barbat]] lute.<ref name=":0">{{cite grove |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.28694 |year=2001 |last1=Poché |first1=Christian |title='Ūd |quote=(oud; pl.: ʿīdān). Short-necked plucked lute of the Arab world, the direct ancestor of the European lute, whose name derives from al-ʿūd ('the lute'). Known both from documentation and through oral tradition, it is considered the king, sultan or emir of musical instruments, 'the most perfect of those invented by the philosophers'. Ikhwān al-Safāʾ: Rasāʾil [Letters] (1957), i, 202). It is the principal instrument of the Arab world, Somalia and Djibouti, and is of secondary importance in Turkey (ut, a spelling used in the past but now superseded by ud), Iran, Armenia and Azerbaijan (ud). It plays a lesser role in Greece (outi), where it has given rise to a long-necked model (laouto); the latter is used in rustic and folk contexts, while the ʿūd retains pre-eminently educated and urban associations. In eastern Africa it is known as udi; in recent decades it has also appeared in Mauritania and Tajikistan. [...] The emergence of the ʿūd on the stage of history is an equally complex matter. Two authors of the end of the 14th century (Abū al-Fidā, or Abulfedae, and Abū al-Walīd ibn Shihnāh) place it in the reign of the Sassanid King Sh[ā]pūr I (241–72). Ibn Shihnāh added that the development of the ʿūd was linked to the spread of Manicheism, and its invention to Manes himself, a plausible theory because the disciples of Manes encouraged musical accompaniments to their religious offices. Reaching China, their apostolate left traces of relations between West and East, seen in a short-necked lute similar to the ʿūd (Grünwedel, 1912). But the movement's centre was in southern Iraq, whence the ʿūd was to spread towards the Arabian peninsula in the 7th century. However, the texts mentioning the introduction to Mecca of the short-necked lute as the ʿūd were all written in the 9th and 10th centuries. The ʿūd spread to the West by way of Andalusia }}</ref> The oldest surviving oud is thought to be in Brussels, at the [[Musical Instrument Museum (Brussels)|Museum of Musical Instruments]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://oudmigrations.com/2016/03/02/alexandria-to-brussels-1839/|title=Alexandria to Brussels, 1839|website=oudmigrations|date=2 March 2016|access-date=2016-04-15 |author1=Oudadmin }}</ref>

An early description of the "modern" oud was given by 11th-century musician, singer and author [[Ibn al-Haytham|Al-Hasan Ibn al-Haytham]] ({{circa|965–1040}}) in his compendium on music ''Ḥāwī al-Funūn wa Salwat al-Maḥzūn''. The first known complete description of the ''‛ūd'' and its construction is found in the [[epistle]] ''Risāla fī-l-Luḥūn wa-n-Nagham'' by 9th-century philosopher of the Arabs [[Al-Kindi|Yaʻqūb ibn Isḥāq al-Kindī]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |url=http://foredofico.org/CERMAA/?attachment_id=482|title=Théories de l'échelle et pratiques mélodiques chez les Arabes – Volume 1 : L'échelle générale et les genres – Tome 1 : Théories gréco-arabes de Kindī (IX<sup>e</sup> siècle) à Ṭūsī (XIII<sup>e</sup> siècle)|last=Beyhom|first=Amine|publisher=Geuthner|year=2010|isbn=978-2-7053-3840-4|location=Paris}}</ref> Kindī's description stands thus:

<blockquote>[and the] length [of the ''‛ūd''] will be: thirty-six joint fingers—with good thick fingers—and the total will amount to three ''ashbār''.<ref group=Notes>The ''shibr'' (singular of ''ashbār'') is a measurement unit which equals roughly 18-24 cm, depending on the hand. It equates to the measured length between the tip of the thumb and the tip of the auricular finger when stretched flat and in opposite directions. The shibr otherwise measures 12 fingers (36:3): a "full" finger should be about 2 cm in width.</ref> And its width: fifteen fingers. And its depth seven and a half fingers. And the measurement of the width of the bridge with the remainder behind: six fingers. Remains the length of the strings: thirty fingers and on these strings take place the division and the partition, because it is the sounding [or "the speaking"] length. This is why the width must be [of] fifteen fingers as it is the half of this length. Similarly for the depth, seven fingers and a half and this is the half of the width and the quarter of the length [of the strings]. And the neck must be one third of the length [of the speaking strings] and it is: ten fingers. Remains the vibrating body: twenty fingers. And that the back (soundbox) be well rounded and its "thinning" (kharţ) [must be done] towards the neck, as if it had been a round body drawn with a compass which was cut in two in order to extract two ''‛ūds''.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Beyhom|first=Amine|year=2011|others=Paper for 'The Oud from Its Sumerian Origins to Modern Times', ICONEA Conference 2011 – 1–3 December 2011|title=Two persistent misapprehensions about the ''ʿūd''|url=http://foredofico.org/CERMAA/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Amine-Beyhom-Two-common-errors-about-the-‛ŪD-from-iconea2011web.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://foredofico.org/CERMAA/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Amine-Beyhom-Two-common-errors-about-the-‛ŪD-from-iconea2011web.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|journal=Iconea 2011|pages=81–110 (85)}}</ref></blockquote>

In [[Pre-Islamic Persia]], Arabia and [[Mesopotamia]], the stringed instruments had only three strings, with a small musical box and a long neck without any [[tuning pegs]]. But during the Islamic era the musical box was enlarged, a fourth string was added, and the base for the tuning pegs (Bunjuk) or [[pegbox]] was added. In the first centuries of (pre-Islamic) Arabian civilisation, the stringed instruments had four courses (one string per course—double-strings came later), tuned in successive fourths. Curt Sachs said they were called (from lowest to highest pitch) ''bamm'', ''maṭlaṭ'', ''maṭnā'' and ''zīr''.<ref name=sachs>{{cite book |last=Sachs |first=Curt |date=1940 |title=The History of Musical Instruments |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofmusical00sach|url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofmusical00sach/page/254 254] |isbn=9780393020687 | quote= classic number of strings was four pairs ... ''bamm'', ''maṭlaṭ'', ''maṭnā'', ''zīr'' ... A fifth pair of strings, above ''zīr'' seems to have been introduced as early as the ninth century ...}}</ref> "As early as the ninth century" a fifth string ''ḥād'' ("sharp") was sometimes added "to make the range of two octaves complete".<ref name=sachs/> It was highest in pitch, placed lowest in its positioning in relation to other strings. Modern tuning preserves the ancient succession of fourths, with adjunctions (lowest or highest courses), which may be tuned differently following regional or personal preferences. Sachs gives one tuning for this arrangement of five pairs of strings, d, e, a, d', g'.<ref name=sachs/>

Historical sources indicate that [[Ziryab]] (789–857) added a fifth string to his oud.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=neYsAQAAIAAJ&q=oud+word+origin | title=Iraq| year=1984}}</ref> He was well known for founding a school of music in [[Al-Andalus|Andalusia]], one of the places where the oud or lute entered Europe. Another mention of the fifth string was made by Al-Hasan Ibn al-Haytham in ''Ḥāwī al-Funūn wa Salwat al-Maḥzūn''.

==Names and etymology==
{{See also|Rud|Agarwood|label2=Oud}}
{{multiple image
| total_width = 300
| footer_align = center
| header_align = center
| align = left
| image1 = Holding the risha pos 2.jpg
| image2 = Holding the risha pos 1.jpg
| footer = The oud [[plectrum]], called risha in Arabic, mızrap in Turkish and zakhme in Persian
}}
The {{langx|ar|العود}} (''{{transliteration|ar|DIN|al-ʿūd or oud}}''<span style="margin-left:1px">)</span> literally denotes a thin piece of wood similar to the shape of a straw. It may refer to the wooden [[plectrum]] traditionally used for playing the oud, to the thin strips of wood used for the back, or to the wooden soundboard that distinguishes it from similar instruments with skin-faced bodies.<ref name="Iranica">{{cite web|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/barbat|title=Encyclopaedia Iranica - Barbat|last=During|first=Jean|date=1988-12-15|publisher=Iranicaonline.org|access-date=2012-02-04}}</ref> [[Henry George Farmer]] considers the similitude between ''{{transliteration|ar|DIN|al-ʿūd}} ''and ''al-ʿawda'' ("the return" – of bliss).<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Farmer|first=Henry George|year=1939|title=The Structure of the Arabian and Persian Lute in the Middle Ages|journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society|issue=1|pages=41–51 (49)|quote=... from a work entitled Kitāb kashf al-humūūm ... 'ūd (lute) is derived from al-'awda ("the return" meaning the days of pleasure may return [in the joy of the music of the lute] ...)|jstor=25201835}}</ref>

Multiple theories have been proposed for the origin of the Arabic name ''oud''. The word oud  (عود) means "from wood" and "stick" in Arabic.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_88190O7gG8C&q=OUD+MEANS+WOOD+ARABIC&pg=PT126 | title=Practicing: A Musician's Return to Music| isbn=9780307489760| last1=Kurtz| first1=Glenn| date=2008-11-19| publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WsNP3bAH_3MC&q=OUD+MEANS+WOOD+ARABIC&pg=PA98 | title=Egypt| isbn=9781426205217| last1=Humphrey| first1=Andrew| year=2009| publisher=National Geographic Books}}</ref> In 1940 [[Curt Sachs]] contradicted or refined that idea, saying oud meant ''flexible stick'', not wood.<ref name=sachs1>{{cite book |title= The History of Musical Instruments |last=Sachs |first= Kurt |publisher= W. W. Norton & Company |place= New York |date= 1940|pages= 253|quote=the principal meaning of this word ['ūd] is not 'wood,' as generally supposed, but 'flexible stick'.}}</ref> A western scholar of Islamic musical subjects, Eckhard Neubauer, suggested that ''oud'' may be an Arabic borrowing from the [[Persian language|Persian]] word ''rōd'' or ''rūd'', which meant string.<ref>{{cite book |author= Douglas Alton Smith |title= ''A History of the Lute from Antiquity to the Renaissance'' |page= 9 |publisher= Lute Society of America (LSA)|date= 2002|isbn= 0-9714071-0-X}}.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pourjavady |first1=Amir Hossein |title=Review of The Science of Music in Islam. Vols. 1-2, Studies in Oriental Music; The Science of Music in Islam. Vol. 3, Arabisch Musiktheorie von den Anfängen bis zum 6./12. Jahrhundert, Eckhard Neubauer; The Science of Music in Islam. Vol. 4, Der Essai sur la musique orientale von Charles Fonton mit Zeichnungen von Adanson, Eckhard Neubauer, Fuat Sezgin |journal=Asian Music |date=2000 |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=206–209 |doi=10.2307/834339 |jstor=834339 }}</ref> Another researcher, archaeomusicologist [[Richard Dumbrill (musicologist)|Richard J. Dumbrill]], suggests that ''rud'' came from the Sanskrit ''rudrī'' (रुद्री, meaning "string instrument") and transferred to Arabic (a Semitic language) through a Semitic language.<ref name=dumbrill>{{cite book|last=Dumbrill|first = Richard J.|date=1998|title=The Archaeomusicology of the Ancient Near East|location=London|publisher=Tadema Press|page=319|quote='rud' comes from the Sanskrit 'rudrī', which means 'stringed instrument' ... The word spreads on the one hand via the Indo-European medium into the Spanish 'rota'; French 'rotte'; Welsh 'crwth', etc, and on the other, via the Semitic medium, into Arabic ‘ud; Ugaritic ‘d; Spanish 'laúd'; German 'Laute'; French 'luth' ...}}</ref> While the authors of these statements about the meanings or origins of the word may have accessed linguistic sources, they were not linguists.

However, another theory according to Semitic language scholars, is that the Arabic ''ʿoud'' is derived from Syriac ''ʿoud-a'', meaning "wooden stick" and "burning wood"—cognate to [[Biblical Hebrew]] ''’ūḏ'', referring to a stick used to stir logs in a fire.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.assyrianlanguages.org/sureth/dosearch.php?searchkey=17090&language=id|title=Search Entry|website=www.assyrianlanguages.org|access-date=3 October 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://biblehub.com/hebrew/181.htm|title=Strong's Hebrew: 181. אוּד (ud) – a brand, firebrand|website=biblehub.com|access-date=2018-03-24}}</ref>

Names for the instrument in different languages include {{langx|ar|عود}} ''{{transliteration|ar|DIN|ʿūd or ʿoud}}''&nbsp;({{IPA|ar|ʕu(ː)d, ʢuːd}}, plural: {{lang|ar|أعواد}} ''{{transliteration|ar|DIN|aʿwād}}''<span style="margin-left:1px">),</span> {{langx|hy|ուդ}}, [[Syriac language|Syriac]]: {{lang|aii|ܥܘܕ}} ''{{transliteration|aii|ūd}}'', {{langx|el|ούτι}} ''{{transliteration|el|oúti}}''<span style="margin-left:2px">,</span> {{langx|he|עוּד}} ''{{transliteration|he|ud}}''<span style="margin-left:1px">,</span> {{langx|fa|بربت}} ''{{transliteration|fa|barbat}}'' (although the [[Barbat (lute)|barbat]] is a different lute instrument), {{langx|tr|ud}} or {{lang|tr|ut}}<span style="margin-left:1px">,</span><ref>{{Cite web |title=Güncel Türkçe Sözlük'te Söz Arama |url=http://tdk.org.tr/TR/SozBul.aspx?F6E10F8892433CFFAAF6AA849816B2EF05A79F75456518CA&kelime=ut |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311013511/http://tdk.org.tr/TR/SozBul.aspx?F6E10F8892433CFFAAF6AA849816B2EF05A79F75456518CA&kelime=ut|archivedate=March 11, 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Azerbaijani language|Azeri]]: ''ud''<span style="margin-left:1px">, and</span> {{langx|so|cuud}} 𐒋𐒓𐒆 or ''kaban'' 𐒏𐒖𐒁𐒖𐒒<span style="margin-left:1px">.</span>

==History==
===Musical instruments from pre-history===
{{See also|Lute#History and evolution of the lute|History of lute-family instruments}}

{{multiple image
| caption_align     = center
| header_align      = center
| total_width       = 400
| align             = right
| image1            = Egyptian lute players 001.jpg
| alt1              = Egyptian long lutes, {{circa|1350 BC}}
| caption1          = Egyptian lute players with long-necked lutes. Fresco from the tomb of Nebamun, a nobleman in the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, {{circa|1350 BC}}
| image2            = Indo-GreekBanquet.JPG
| alt2              = Gandhara banquet with lute player
| caption2          = Hellenistic banquet scene from the 1st century AD, [[Hadda, Afghanistan|Hadda]], [[Gandhara]]. Short-necked, 2-string lute held by player, far right
}}
[[File:Relief or architectural ornament with an oudh player, Iran, 11th-12th century, slip-painted earthenware - Royal Ontario Museum - DSC04641.JPG|thumb|upright|left|alt=Oud type instrument iran 11th-12th centuries ad|Iran, 11th or 12th century A.D. Earthenware statue of a musician playing a short-necked, lute-style instrument]]

The complete history of the development of the lute family is not fully compiled at this date, only some of it. The highly influential organologist Curt Sachs distinguished between the "long-necked lute" and the short-necked variety.<ref name=sachsshortlong>{{cite book |last=Sachs |first=Curt |date=1940 |title=The History of Musical Instruments |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofmusical00sach|url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofmusical00sach/page/251 251], 253 |isbn=9780393020687 }}</ref> Douglas Alton Smith argues the long-necked variety should not be called lute at all because it existed for at least a millennium before the appearance of the short-necked instrument that eventually evolved into what is now known as the lute.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Smith|first1=Douglas Alton|title=A History of the Lute from Antiquity to the Renaissance|date=2002|publisher=Lute Society of America (LSA)|isbn=978-0-9714071-0-7}}</ref>

Musicologist [[Richard Dumbrill (musicologist)|Richard Dumbrill]] today uses the word more categorically to discuss instruments that existed millennia before the term "lute" was coined.<ref name=dumbrill1>{{Cite book |title=The archaeomusicology of the Ancient Near East |author=Dumbrill, Richard J. |date=2005 |publisher=Trafford |pages=305–310 |isbn=9781412055383 |location=Victoria, B.C. |oclc=62430171 |quote=The long-necked lute would have stemmed from the bow-harp and eventually became the tunbur; and the fat-bodied smaller lute would have evolved into the modern Oud. ... the lute pre-dated the lyre which can therefore be considered as a development of the lute, rather than the contrary, as had been thought until quite recently ... Thus the lute not only dates but also locates the transition from musical protoliteracy to musical literacy ...}}</ref> Dumbrill documented more than 3000 years of iconographic evidence for the lutes in Mesopotamia, in his book ''The Archaeomusicology of the Ancient Near East''. According to Dumbrill, the lute family included instruments in [[Mesopotamia]] prior to 3000&nbsp;BC.<ref name=Dumbrillp321>{{harvnb|Dumbrill|1998|p=321}}</ref> He points to a [[cylinder seal]] as evidence; dating from {{circa}} 3100&nbsp;BC or earlier (now in the possession of the British Museum); the seal depicts on one side what is thought to be a woman playing a stick "lute".<ref name="Dumbrillp321"/><ref name=Britishmuseum>{{cite web |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1447477&partId=1&people=24615&peoA=24615-3-17&page=1 |publisher=British Museum |title=Cylinder Seal, Culture/period Uruk, Date (circa) 3100BC, Museum number 41632}}</ref> Like Sachs, Dumbrill saw length as distinguishing lutes, dividing the Mesopotamian lutes into a long-necked variety and a short.<ref name=Dumbrillp310>{{harvnb|Dumbrill|1998|p=310}}</ref> He focuses on the longer lutes of Mesopotamia, and similar types of related necked chordophones that developed throughout the ancient world: [[ancient Greece|Greek]], [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]] (in the [[Middle Kingdom of Egypt|Middle Kingdom]]), Elamites, [[Hittites|Hittite]], [[Ancient Rome|Roman]], [[Bulgars|Bulgar]], [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]], [[India]]n, [[China|Chinese]], [[Armenian people|Armenian]]/[[Cilician]], [[Phoenicia|Canaanite/Phoenician]], [[History of ancient Israel and Judah|Israelite/Judean]], and various other cultures. He names among the long lutes, the [[pandura]], the [[panduri]], [[tambur]] and [[tanbur]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Dumbrill |first=Richard J. |date=2005 |title=The Archaeomusicology of the Ancient Near East |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nlm1Kbc7P5UC&q=dumbrill%2C+long+lutes&pg=PA320 |location=Victoria, British Columbia |publisher=Trafford Publishing |pages=319–320 |isbn=978-1-4120-5538-3|quote=The long-necked lute in the OED is orthographed as tambura; tambora, tamera, tumboora; tambur(a) and tanpoora. We have an Arabic Õunbur; Persian tanbur; Armenian pandir; Georgian panturi. and a Serbo-Croat tamburitza. The Greeks called it pandura; panduros; phanduros; panduris or pandurion. The Latin is pandura. It is attested as a Nubian instrument in the third century BC. The earliest literary allusion to lutes in Greece comes from Anaxilas in his play The Lyre-maker as 'trichordos' ... According to Pollux, the trichordon [''sic''] was Assyrian and they gave it the name pandoura ... These instruments survive today in the form of the various Arabian ''tunbar'' ...}}</ref>

The line of short-necked lutes was further developed to the east of Mesopotamia, in [[Bactria]] and [[Gandhara]], into a short, almond-shaped lute.<ref name=Iranica/><ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.clevelandart.org/art/1980.15|title= Bracket with two musicians 100s, Pakistan, Gandhara, probably Butkara in Swat, Kushan Period (1st century-320)|publisher= The Cleveland Museum of Art|access-date=March 25, 2015}}</ref> Curt Sachs talked about the depictions of Gandharan lutes in art, where they are presented in a mix of "Northwest Indian art" under "strong Greek influences".<ref name=sachs2>{{cite book |last=Sachs |first=Curt |date=1940 |title= The History of Musical Instruments |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofmusical00sach|url-access=registration |location= New York |publisher= W. W. Norton & Company |pages= [https://archive.org/details/historyofmusical00sach/page/159 159–161]|isbn=9780393020687 }}</ref> The short-necked lutes in these Gandhara artworks were "the venerable ancestor of the Islamic, the Sino-Japanese and the European lute families."<ref name=sachs2/> He described the Gandhara lutes as having a "pear-shaped body tapering towards the short neck, a frontal stringholder, lateral pegs, and either four or five strings."<ref name=sachs2/> The oldest images of short-necked lutes from the area that Sachs knew of were "Persian figurines of the 8th century B.C.," found in excavations at Suza, but he knew of nothing connecting these to the Oud-related Gandharan art 8 centuries later.<ref name=sachs2/>

===Spread of oud to Europe===
When the [[Umayyad conquest of Hispania|Umayyads conquered Hispania]] in 711, they brought their ud along. An oud is depicted as being played by a seated musician<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://universes.art/en/art-destinations/jordan/desert-castles/qusayr-amra/audience-hall/img-10|title=Musician and dancing woman, Qusayr Amra. Art Destination Jordan|website=universes.art}}</ref> in [[Qasr Amra]] of the [[Umayyad dynasty]], one of the earliest depictions of the instrument as played in early Islamic history.

During the 8th and 9th centuries, many musicians and artists from across the Islamic world flocked to [[al-Andalus]].<ref name=Menocal>{{Citation|title=The Literature of Al-Andalus|editor1=María Rosa Menocal |editor2=Raymond P. Scheindlin |editor3=Michael Anthony Sells |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2000}}</ref> Among them was [[Ziryab|Abu l-Hasan ‘Ali Ibn Nafi‘]] (789–857),<ref name="Gill">{{cite book|last=Gill|first=John|title=Andalucia: A Cultural History|year=2008|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-01-95-37610-4|page=81|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gGY2fSXko5kC&pg=PA81}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Lapidus|first=Ira M.|title=A History of Islamic Societies |year=2002|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn= 9780521779333|page=311|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I3mVUEzm8xMC&pg=PA311}}</ref> a prominent musician who had trained under [[Ishaq al-Mawsili]] ({{Died in|850}}) in [[Baghdad]] and was exiled to al-Andalus before 833 AD. He taught and has been credited with adding a fifth string to his oud<ref name="Iranica"/> and with establishing one of the first schools of [[music]] in [[Emirate of Córdoba|Córdoba]].<ref name="Davila?">{{cite magazine|title=Fixing a Misbegotten Biography: Ziryab in the Mediterranean World|author=Davila, Carl|publisher=Al-Masaq |magazine=Islam in the Medieval Mediterranean |volume=21 |number=2 |year=2009}}</ref>

By the 11th century, Muslim Iberia had become a center for the manufacture of instruments. These goods spread gradually to [[Provence]], influencing French [[troubadour]]s and [[trouvères]] and eventually reaching the rest of Europe. While Europe developed the lute, the ''oud'' remained a central part of Arab music, and broader Ottoman music as well, undergoing a range of transformations.<ref name="oudmigrations">{{Cite web|url=https://oudmigrations.com/2016/03/08/journeys-of-ottoman-ouds/|title=The journeys of Ottoman ouds|website=oudmigrations|date=8 March 2016|access-date=2016-04-26 |author1=Oudadmin }}</ref>

Although the major entry of the short lute was in western Europe, leading to a variety of lute styles, the short lute entered Europe in the East as well; as early as the sixth century, the Bulgars brought the short-necked variety of the instrument called [[Komuz]] to the Balkans.

===Origins theory from religious and philosophical beliefs===
[[File:Aleppo-Music0Band.jpg|thumb|left|[[Syria]]n musicians in [[Aleppo]] with an oud, {{circa|1915}}]]
According to Abū Ṭālib al-Mufaḍḍal (a-n-Naḥawī al-Lughawī) ibn Salma (9th century), who himself refers to Hishām ibn al-Kullā, the oud was invented by [[Lamech (descendant of Cain)|Lamech]], the descendant of [[Adam]] and [[Cain and Abel|Cain]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Kitāb al-Malāhī wa Asmāʾihā min Qibal al-Mūsīqā|last=ibn Salma|first=Abū Ṭālib al-Mufaḍḍal (a-n-Naḥawī al-Lughawī)|publisher=Al-Hay’a al-Miṣriyya al-ʿĀmma li-l-Kitāb|year=1984|location=Cairo - Egypt|pages=13–14|quote=ذكر هشام بن الكلّى أنّ أول من عمل العود فضرب به رجل من بني قابيل، ويقال: قايين بن آدم، يقال له: لامك، وكان عمّر زمانا طويلاً، ولم يكن يولد لهُ، فتزوّج خمسين امرأة وتسرّى بمائتي سريّة [...] ثم ولد له غلام قبل أن يموت بعشر سنين، فاشتد فرحه، فلما أتت على الغلام خمس سنين مات، فجزع عليه جزعًا شديدًا، فأخذه فعلّقه على شجرة، فقال: لا تذهب صورته عن عيني حتى يتقطّع أشلاء أو أموت، فجعل لحمه يقع عن عظامه حتى بقيت الفخذ بالساق والقدم والأصابع، فأخذ عودًا فشقّه ورقّقه وجعل يؤلف بعضه على بعض، فجعل صدره على صورة الفخذ، والعنق على صورة الساق، والإبريق على قدر القدم، والملاوي كالأصابع، وعلّق عليه أوتارًا كالعروق، ثم جعل يضرب به ويبكي وينوح حتى عمي، فكان أول من ناح، وسمّى الذي اتّخذ: عودًا، لأنه اتُخذ من عود}}</ref> Another hypothetical attribution says that its inventor was [[Mani (prophet)|Mani]].<ref name=":0"/> Ibn a-ṭ-Ṭaḥḥān adds two possible mythical origins: the first involves the Devil, who would have lured the "People of David" into exchanging (at least part of) their instruments with the oud. He writes himself that this version is not credible. The second version attributes, as in many other cultures influenced by Greek philosophy, the invention of the oud to "Philosophers".<ref name=":1" />

====Central Asia====
One theory is that the oud originated from the Persian instrument called a&nbsp;''barbat&nbsp;''(Persian: بربت ) or ''barbud'', a lute indicated by Marcel-Dubois to be of Central Asian origin. The earliest pictorial image of the barbat dates back to the 1st century BC from ancient northern [[Bactria]] and is the oldest evidence of the existence of the barbat.<ref name="Iranica"/> Evidence of a form of the barbaṭ is found in a Gandhara sculpture from the 2nd-4th centuries AD which may well have been introduced by the [[Kushan Empire|Kushan]] aristocracy, whose influence is attested in Gandharan art.<ref name="Iranica"/> The name barbat itself meant ''short-necked lute'' in [[Middle Persian|Pahlavi]], the language of the [[Sasanian Empire]], through which the instrument came west from Central Asia to the Middle East, adopted by the Persians.<ref name=Iranica/><ref name=centralasia>{{Cite book |last= Blum|first= Stephen|title = Oxford Music Online|date=20 January 2001 |publisher= Oxford Music Online, Grove Music Online|quote= The ‘ūd (lute) is believed to be a later development of a pre-Islamic Persian instrument called barbat...[was part of] eastwards diffusion of Middle Eastern and Central Asian chordophones... the pipa, likewise derived from the barbat or from its prototype|doi = 10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.05284|chapter= Central Asia|isbn= 978-1-56159-263-0}}</ref>

The barbat (possibly known as mizhar, kirān, or muwatter, all skin topped versions) was used by some Arabs in the sixth century.<ref name=EncyclopiaIslam>{{cite book|title=First Encyclopaedia of Islam: 1913-1936|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ro--tXw_hxMC&pg=PA986|year=1993|publisher=BRILL|location=Leiden|isbn=978-90-04-09796-4|page=986}}</ref> At the end of the 6th century, a wood topped version of the Persian-styled instrument was constructed by al Nadr, called "ūd", and introduced from Iraq to Mecca.<ref name=EncyclopiaIslam/> This Persian-style instrument was being played there in the seventh century.<ref name=EncyclopiaIslam/> Sometime in the seventh century it was modified or "perfected" by [[Mansour Zalzal]], and the two instruments (barbat and "ūd shabbūt") were used side by side into the 10th century, and possibly longer.<ref name=EncyclopiaIslam/> The two instruments have been confused by modern scholars looking for examples, and some of the ouds identified may possibly be barbats.<ref name=EncyclopiaIslam/> Examples of this cited in the ''[[Encyclopedia of Islam]]'' include a lute in the [[Cantigas de Santa Maria]] and the frontispiece from ''The Life and Times of Ali Ibn Isa'' by Harold Bowen.<ref name=EncyclopiaIslam/>

The oldest pictorial record of a short-necked lute-type ''vīnā'' dates from around the 1st to 3rd centuries AD.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Karaikudi S.|first=Subramanian|year=1985|title=An introduction to the Vina|journal=Asian Music|volume=16|issue=2|pages=7–82 (10)|quote=We find representations of the nissāri vinas in sculptures, paintings, terracotta figures, and coins in various parts of India […]. The lute type vina [...] is represented in Amaravati, Nagarjunakonda, Pawaya (Gupta period), Ajanta paintings (300-500 A.D.) [...]. These varieties are plucked by the right hand and played by the left hand|doi=10.2307/833772|jstor=833772}}</ref> The site of origin of the oud seems to be Central Asia.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Picken|first=Laurence|year=1955|title=The origin of the short lute|journal=The Galpin Society Journal|volume=8|pages=32–42 (40)|quote=With the evidence as yet available, it is reasonable to place the site of origin of the short lute in Central Asia, perhaps among Iranised Turco-Mongols, within the area of the ancient first-century kingdom of the Kusanas. This conclusion must not be taken to exclude the possibility that short lutes first appeared somewhat earlier and somewhat further to the West-in Parthia, for example; but at present the evidence of the Kusana reliefs is the only evidence of their existence in the first century[...] The lutes of the Kusanas would seem to be the first representations of undoubted short ovoid lutes; and Fu Hsüan’s essay, one of the first texts in any language devoted to a short lute, though not to an ovoid lute.|doi=10.2307/842155|jstor=842155}}</ref> The ancestor of the oud, the barbat was in use in pre-Islamic Persia. Since the Safavid period, and perhaps because of the name shift from barbat to oud, the instrument gradually lost favor with musicians.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Lawergren|first=Bo|year=2001|title=Iran|journal=The New Grove|pages=521–546 (534)}}</ref>

The [[Turkic peoples]] had a similar instrument called the ''[[komuz|kopuz]]''.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Chabrier|first=Jean-Claude|year=2008|title=ʿŪd|journal=Encyclopedia of Islam|pages=534|quote=The ḳabūs (al-Ḥid̲j̲āz), ḳabbūṣ (ʿUmān), ḳanbūṣ (Ḥaḍramawt), ḳupūz or ḳūpūz (Turkey) is a very old instrument. Ewliyā Čelebi [q.v.] says that the ḳūpūz was invented by a vizier of Meḥemmed II (d. 886/1481) named Aḥmed Pas̲h̲a Hersek Og̲h̲lu. He describes it as being a hollow instrument, smaller than the s̲h̲as̲h̲tār, and mounted with three strings (Travels, i/2, 235). On the other hand, Ibn G̲h̲aybī says that the ḳūpūz rūmī had five double strings. The instrument is no longer used by the Turks, although it has survived under the name of kobza, koboz, in Poland, Russia, and the Balkans, but here it is the lute proper and not a barbaṭ type}}</ref> This instrument was thought to have magical powers and was brought to wars and used in military bands. This is noted in the [[Göktürk]] monument inscriptions.{{Citation needed|date=January 2017}} The military band was later used by other Turkic state's armies and later by Europeans.<ref name=":4">Fuad Köprülü, ''Türk Edebiyatında İlk Mutasavvıflar'' (First Sufis in Turkish Literature), Ankara University Press, Ankara 1966, pp. 207, 209.; Gazimihal; Mahmud Ragıb, ''Ülkelerde Kopuz ve Tezeneli Sazlarımız'', Ankara University Press, Ankara 1975, p. 64.; ''Musiki Sözlüğü'' (Dictionary of Music), M.E.B. İstanbul 1961, pp. 138, 259, 260.; Curt Sachs, ''The History of Musical Instruments'', New York 1940, p. 252.</ref>{{Verify source|date=January 2017}}

==Types==
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===Arabian oud, Turkish oud, and Persian barbat===
Modern-day ouds fall into three categories: [[Arab world|Arabian]], [[Turkey|Turkish]], and [[Iran|Persian]], the last also being known as [[barbat (lute)|barbat]].<ref name=majnunn>{{cite web |url=https://majnuunmusicanddance.com/persian-oud-barbat/ |title=Persian Oud – Barbat |last=Goldrick |first=Navid |date=16 August 2013 |website=majnunn music and dance |access-date=31 March 2018 |quote=Because of these efforts the Arabic Oud and the Barbat are now once again part of the Iranian musical landscape. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191204085552/https://majnuunmusicanddance.com/persian-oud-barbat/ |archive-date=4 December 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

This distinction is not based solely on geography; the Arabic oud is found not only in the [[Arabian Peninsula]] but throughout the Arab world.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.sonsdelorient.com/en/cordes/oud.html |title=Oud |author=<!--Not stated--> |website=sonsdelorient.com |access-date=9 August 2018 |archive-date=26 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180826180149/https://www.sonsdelorient.com/en/cordes/oud.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Turkish ouds have been played by [[Anatolian Greeks]], where they are called outi, and in other locations in the Mediterranean.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.arabinstruments.com/types-of-ouds |title=Types of ouds |author=<!--Not stated--> |website=arabinstruments.com |access-date=9 August 2018 |archive-date=29 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029173812/https://www.arabinstruments.com/types-of-ouds |url-status=dead }}</ref> The [[Iraq]]i oud, [[Egypt]]ian oud and [[Syrian]] oud, are normally grouped under the term 'Arabian oud' because of their similarities, although local differences may occur, notably with the Iraqi oud.<ref name="oudforguitarists">{{Cite news|url=http://www.oudforguitarists.com/types-of-ouds-ultimate-oud-buyers-guide-1/|title=Types of Ouds : The Ultimate Oud Buyers' Guide Part 1 – Oud for Guitarists|date=2013-09-17|newspaper=Oud for Guitarists|language=en-US|access-date=2017-01-27}}</ref> However, all these categories are very recent, and do not do justice to the variety of ouds made in the 19th century, and also today.<ref name="oudmigrations"/>

Arabian ouds are normally larger than their Turkish and Persian counterparts, producing a fuller, deeper sound, whereas the sound of the Turkish oud is more taut and shrill, not least because the Turkish oud is usually (and partly) tuned [[major second|one whole step]] higher than the Arabian.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.oudcafe.com/stringing_and_tuning.htm|title=OUD CAFE – Stringing & Tuning|website=www.oudcafe.com|access-date=2017-01-27}}</ref> Turkish ouds tend to be more lightly constructed than Arabian with an [[Wood finishing|unfinished]] [[sound board (music)|sound board]], lower [[action (music)|string action]] and with [[course (music)|string courses]] placed closer together. Turkish ouds also tend to be higher pitched and have a "brighter timbre".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.arabinstruments.com/about-the-turkish-oud |title=About the Turkish oud |author=<!--Not stated--> |website=arabinstruments.com |access-date=9 August 2018 |archive-date=29 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029171249/https://www.arabinstruments.com/about-the-turkish-oud |url-status=dead }}</ref> Arabian ouds have a [[scale length (string instruments)|scale length]] of between 61&nbsp;cm and 62&nbsp;cm in comparison to the 58.5&nbsp;cm scale length for Turkish. There exists also a variety of electro-acoustic and electric ouds.<ref name="oudforguitarists"/>

The modern Persian barbat resembles the oud, although differences include a smaller body, longer neck, a slightly raised fingerboard, and a sound that is distinct from that of the oud.<ref name=majnunn/>

The [[cümbüş]] is a Turkish instrument that started as a hybrid of the oud and the [[banjo]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Cümbüş|url=http://www.campin.me.uk/Music/Cumbus/|access-date=2020-10-12|website=www.campin.me.uk}}</ref>

===Tuning===
[[File:Oud open Strings.ogg|thumb|The [[Musical tuning#Open strings|open strings]] played on an oud tuned in the American pattern "D2 G2 A2 D3 G3 C4"]]
Different ways of tuning the oud exist within the different oud traditions. Among those playing the oud in the Arabic tradition, a common older pattern of tuning the strings is (low pitch to high): D2 G2 A2 D3 G3 C4 on single string courses or D2, G2 G2, A2 A2, D3 D3, G3 G3, C4 C4 for a course of two strings.<ref name="stringinsdb">{{cite web |url=https://stringedinstrumentdatabase.aornis.com/n.htm |title= Stringed Instrument Database N-O|author=<!--Not stated--> |website= stringedinstrumentdatabase.aornis.com|access-date=8 August 2018 }}</ref><ref name=parfitt>{{cite web |url=http://oudipedia.info/tuning.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170907143635/http://oudipedia.info/tuning.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=7 September 2017 |title=Tuning the oud |last=Parfitt |first=David |website= oudipedia.info|access-date=8 August 2018 }}</ref> In the Turkish tradition, the "Bolahenk" tuning, is common, (low pitch to high): C#2 F#2 B2 E3 A3 D4 on instruments with single string courses or C#2, F#2 F#2, B2 B2, E3 E3, A3 A3, D4 D4 on instruments with courses of two strings.<ref name=stringinsdb/><ref name=parfitt/> The C2 and F2 are actually tuned 1/4 of a tone higher than a normal c or f in the Bolahenk system.<ref name=stringinsdb/><ref name=parfitt/>

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Many current Arab players use this tuning: C2 F2 A2 D3 G3 C4 on the standard tuning instruments, and some use a higher pitch tuning, F2 A2 D3 G3 C4 F4

===Zenne oud===
The Zenne oud, often translated as a ''women's oud'' or ''female oud'' is a smaller version of the oud designed for those with smaller hands and fingers.<ref name="stringinsdb"/> It usually has a scale length of 55–57&nbsp;cm, instead of the 60–62&nbsp;cm of the Arabic oud, and the 58.5&nbsp;cm of the Turkish oud.<ref name=stringinsdb/>

===Oud arbi and oud ramal===
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The oud ''arbi'' is a North African variant of the oud with a longer neck and only four courses.<ref name="stringinsdb"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://khoudir-oud.com/Seiten/Instr_Andalusisch.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150330162255/http://khoudir-oud.com/Seiten/Instr_Andalusisch.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=30 March 2015|title=Andalusische Oud|website=khoudir-oud.com|access-date=3 October 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://oudmigrations.com/2016/03/07/but-is-it-an-oud/|title=But is it an oud? - oudmigrations|work=oudmigrations |date=7 March 2016|access-date=3 October 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://oudmigrations.com/2017/08/14/the-oud-of-tunisia/|title=The oud of Tunisia – oudmigrations|work=oudmigrations |date=14 August 2017|access-date=3 October 2018 |author1=Oudadmin }}</ref> It is not to be confused with the differently shaped and tuned [[kwitra]]. The oud arbi is tuned in a re-entrant tuning of G3 G3, E4 E4, A3 A3, D4 D4.<ref name="stringinsdb"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://atlasofpluckedinstruments.com/africa.htm#north|title=ATLAS of Plucked Instruments – Africa|website=atlasofpluckedinstruments.com}}</ref>

===Oud kumethra===
The ''oud kumethra'', also known as ''pregnant oud'' or ''pear oud'' is an oud with the body in a pear-like shape. This type is relatively uncommon and mostly from Egypt.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://atlasofpluckedinstruments.com/middle_east.htm|title=ATLAS of Plucked Instruments - Middle East|website=atlasofpluckedinstruments.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://funjdiaz.net/museo/ficha.cfm?id=58 |title=Instrumentos Musicales en los Museos de URUEÑA|website=funjdiaz.net}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://experiencesicily.com/2014/11/04/mixing-it-oud/ |title=Mixing It Oud |first=Allison |last=Scola |date=November 4, 2014 |website=Experience Sicily}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=OUD LUTE CONSTRUCTION |url=http://inthegapbetween.free.fr/pierre/PROCESS_PROJECT/process_oud.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://inthegapbetween.free.fr/pierre/PROCESS_PROJECT/process_oud.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Arabic Oud House]]
*[[Arabic music]]
*[[Armenian music]]
*[[Byzantine music]]
*[[Farid al-Atrash]] – A Syrian-Egyptian (notable) oud player
*[[Kurdish music]]
*[[List of oud makers]]
*[[List of oud players]]
*[[Middle Eastern and North African music traditions|Middle Eastern and North East African music traditions]]
*[[Music of Iraq]]
*[[Music of Palestine]]
*[[Somali music]]
*[[Turkish music]]
*[[Zaidoon Treeko]]

==Notes==
<references group=Notes/>

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* Parfitt, David. ''The Oud Handbook'', (Amazon, 2025)
* Rebuffa, David. ''Il Liuto, L'Epos'', (Palermo, 2012), pp.&nbsp;22–34.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Ouds}}
* [http://collection-media.yale.edu/catalog/3904015#.U9fpUFZH-f0 Yale Collection of Music Instruments] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029062847/http://collection-media.yale.edu/catalog/3904015#.U9fpUFZH-f0 |date=29 October 2020 }}

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