violin: [16] Violin has been traced back to Vulgar Latin *vītula ‘stringed instrument’, which was based ultimately on the name of Vītula, a Roman goddess of joy and victory (and has also, via a prehistoric Germanic borrowing, given English fiddle). The Vulgar Latin term passed via Provençal viola and Old French viole into English as viol [15], which survives as the name of an early form of stringed instrument. Its Italian counter-part is viola, which has given English viola [18], and its diminutive form violino is the source of violin. => fiddle, viola
