crwth

plural crwths · alternative crowd · alternative cruth · alternative crowth · alternative crouth

1. historicalAn archaic stringed instrument associated particularly with Wales, though once played widely in Europe, and characterized by a vaulted back and enough space for the player to stop each of the six strings on the fingerboard. Played variously by plucking or bowing.

   We find in one period crwths, with the strings twanged with the right hand, and stopped above with the left, being held as we hold a violoncello to-day, but being small, on the lap.

   1895, John Frederick Rowbotham, The Troubadours and Courts of Love

   Synonyms: chrotta, rote