Balderdash for the Medieval Gay #25

(a compendium of queer words for the modern fag with a passion for the Middle Ages added hebdomadally on the Sabbath day)

25.) Oud
-noun singular

a.) An ancient musical instrument of the lute family used in southwest Asia and northern Africa.*

[Origin: From Arabic العود al-ʿūd, consisting of the Arabic lettersʿayn-wāw-dāl, meaning "a thin piece of wood similar to the shape of a straw," or from ūd as an Arabized version of the Persian name rud, which meant "stringed instrument" or "lute." ]

*The oud is among the oldest stringed instruments in the world. The words lute and oud are both derived from the Arabic العود (al-ʿūd) referring either to the wood plectrum used traditionally for playing the lute, to the thin strips of wood used for the back of the instrument, or to the fact that the instrument’s top was made of wood, not skin, as were earlier incarnations. Some scholars suggest that the “wood” appellation originally carried derogatory connotations, because of musical instrument proscriptions in early Islam. According to Farabi, the oud was invented by Lamech, the sixth grandson of Adam. The legend tells that the grieving Lamech hung the body of his dead son from a tree. The first oud was inspired by the shape of his son’s bleached skeleton.