Examples of viol in a Sentence
Michael Andor Brodeur, Washington Post, 17 Dec. 2023
Most of the pieces sung by Davies were arranged for viol consort by Richard Boothby, co-founder of Fretwork and one of its bass viol players.
—Washington Post, 17 Oct. 2019
The instrumental selections were actually composed for viol consort.
—Washington Post, 17 Oct. 2019
FRETWORK The English viol consort stops in Boston on its American tour, joined by countertenor Iestyn Davies.
—Zoë Madonna, BostonGlobe.com, 5 Sep. 2019
With Amelie Chemin, viol; Thomas Boysen, theorbo; Markus Hunninger, harpsichord.
—Chronicle Staff Report, San Francisco Chronicle, 1 Mar. 2018
In addition to his wife and son Laurence, a viol player and musicologist, Mr. Dreyfus is survived by a daughter, violist Karen Dreyfus; son Daniel Dreyfus; five grandchildren; and sister Ethel Tumim.
—Peter Dobrin, Philly.com, 4 Aug. 2017
The intimate Sunday concert at the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption in Covington would have benefited from a brief introduction to the recorders and viols that played in J.S. Bach’s Cantata No.
—Janelle Gelfand, Cincinnati.com, 21 June 2017
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'viol.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Middle English vial, borrowed from Anglo-French viel, viele, viole, corresponding to continental Old French viele (by suffix substitution vielle) and viole, from a Gallo-Romance base vi-, attested earliest in Old Occitan viola, viula "viol," of uncertain origin
Note: It has been claimed that the base vi- is of onomatopoeic origin, originally in verbal derivatives (Old French vieller, Old Occitan violar "to play a stringed instrument"), from which the noun designating the instrument is derived. However, it is unlikely that the resemblance between the viola words and Germanic *fiþlō- (whence Old High German fidula, Old English *fiðele; see fiddle entry 1), a noun probably designating a string instrument, is pure chance, and borrowing from Germanic into Gallo-Romance seems more plausible than the reverse direction (despite the unexplained voicing of initial f). Medieval Latin vitula, vidula (best attested in English documents) are not necessarily indicative of an earlier Gallo-Romance form of viola, as the Germanic etymon may have contaminated the Romance word. There is no likely relation between the Medieval Latin words and Latin Vītula "goddess of joy," vītulārī "to utter a cry of exultation," which should have developed quite differently in Romance.
15th century, in the meaning defined above
Phrases Containing viol
Dictionary Entries Near viol
Cite this Entry
“Viol.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/viol. Accessed 12 Apr. 2024.
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noun
More from Merriam-Webster on viol
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about viol
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