[ree-bek] 
| a Renaissance fiddle with a pear-shaped body tapering into a neck that ends in a sickle-shaped or scroll-shaped pegbox. |
| re·bec also re·beck (rē'běk') n. Music A pear-shaped, two-stringed or three-stringed medieval instrument, played with a bow. [French, from Old French, alteration (influenced by bec, beak, from its shape) of rebebe, from Old Provençal rebeb, from Arabic rabāb, from rabba, to be master, control; see rbb in Semitic roots.] |
rebeck
bowed, stringed musical instrument of European medieval and early Renaissance music. It was originally called a rubebe, developed about the 11th century from the similar Arab rabab, and was carried to Spain with Muslim culture. Like the rabab, the rebec had a shallow, pear-shaped body, but on the rebec the rabab's skin belly was replaced by wood and a fingerboard was added. The rebec was held against the chest or chin or, occasionally, with the bottom of the instrument resting on the seated player's left thigh. The three strings were tuned in fifths (e.g., g-d'-a').
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bɛk