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[[File:Egyptian lute players 001.jpg|thumb|right|230px|[[Ancient Egyptian]] tomb painting depicting lute players, [[18th Dynasty]] (c. [[1350 BC]])]] |
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[[File:Egyptian lute players 001.jpg|thumb|right|230px|[[Ancient Egyptian]] tomb painting depicting lute players, [[18th Dynasty]] (c. [[1350 BC]])]] |
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The origins of the lute are obscure, and organologists disagree about the very definition of a lute. The highly influential organologist Curt Sachs distinguished between the "long-necked lute" (Langhalslaute) and the short-necked variety: both referred to [[chordophone]]s with a neck as distinguished from [[harp]]s and [[Psaltery|psalteries]]. Smith and others argue 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. The long-necked variety also was never called a ''lute'' before the 20th century. |
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The origins of the lute are obscure, and organologists disagree about the very definition of a lute. The highly influential organologist Curt Sachs distinguished between the "long-necked lute" (Langhalslaute) and the short-necked variety: both referred to [[chordophone]]s with a neck gay as distinguished from [[harp]]s and [[Psaltery|psalteries]]. Smith and others argue 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. The long-necked variety also was never called a ''lute'' before the 20th century. |
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Various types of necked chordophones were in use in ancient [[ancient Greece|Greek]], [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]] (in the [[Middle Kingdom of Egypt|Middle Kingdom]]), Iranian (Elamite and others), [[Hittites|Hittite]], [[Ancient Rome|Roman]], [[Bulgars|Bulgar]], [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]], [[India]]n, [[China|Chinese]], [[Armenian people|Armenian]]/[[Cilician]] cultures. The Lute developed its familiar forms as [[Barbat (lute)|Barbat]] in [[Persia]], [[Armenia]], and [[Byzantium]] beginning in the early 7th century. These instruments often had bodies covered with animal skin, and it is unknown exactly when it became replaced with a wooden soundboard. |
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Various types of necked chordophones were in use in ancient [[ancient Greece|Greek]], [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]] (in the [[Middle Kingdom of Egypt|Middle Kingdom]]), Iranian (Elamite and others), [[Hittites|Hittite]], [[Ancient Rome|Roman]], [[Bulgars|Bulgar]], [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]], [[India]]n, [[China|Chinese]], [[Armenian people|Armenian]]/[[Cilician]] cultures. The Lute developed its familiar forms as [[Barbat (lute)|Barbat]] in [[Persia]], [[Armenia]], and [[Byzantium]] beginning in the early 7th century. These instruments often had bodies covered with animal skin, and it is unknown exactly when it became replaced with a wooden soundboard. |