means A small, high-pitched, four-stringed instrument played with a bow (or plucked), held under the chin and central to orchestras and folk traditions alike.

from From Italian 'violino,' a diminutive of 'viola' — so literally a 'little viola.' 'Viola' itself comes from Medieval Latin 'vitula,' a stringed instrument, possibly linked to Vitula, a Roman goddess of joy and celebration, or to the verb 'vitulari,' to be joyful. The same root branches off into 'fiddle' (via Old English 'fithele') and 'viol,' making the violin and the fiddle close cousins under two different names.