violino

Violino in Italian is the diminutive of viola, with the suffix -ino (small). A violin is a small viola. The viola itself takes its name from Medieval Latin vitula, possibly meaning a stringed instrument, possibly from the goddess Vitula associated with celebrations. The etymology beyond viola is disputed, but the diminutive relationship is clear: the smaller instrument was named as a variant of the larger one.

The modern violin emerged in northern Italy in the early sixteenth century. Andrea Amati of Cremona is generally credited as the first great violin maker, working from the 1540s. His grandson Nicolò Amati trained Antonio Stradivari, whose instruments — Stradivarius violins — are now the most valuable musical instruments in existence. A Stradivarius sold at auction in 2011 for $15.9 million. The Cremonese luthiers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries created instruments that have never been surpassed.

The violin's dominance in Western classical music was established by the eighteenth century. It became the leading voice of the orchestra, the standard solo concerto instrument, and the foundation of chamber music. The instrument's range (four octaves and more in high positions), its expressive capability (vibrato, portamento, pizzicato, harmonics), and its projection power made it the closest thing to the human voice in the orchestra.

The word entered English from Italian in the sixteenth century. The informal English word 'fiddle' (from Old English fiðele) names the same instrument but carries different connotations: a fiddle plays folk music, a violin plays classical. The instrument is identical. The words are not.