"Viola"

When someone says “viola,” you tend to think of the alto member of the violin family. "Viola" is an Italian word. In France it's viole; in England viol. So far your thinking should be: bowed string instruments. But the relationship between violas da gamba and lutes starts to come into focus when you hear the Spanish derivation of "viola," which is vihuela. Viheulas are definitely relatives of lutes and guitars. In fact, the Italians and Spaniards both had two kinds of violas. In Italy they were the viola da gamba, i.e. the “leg viol,” which is bowed and fretted, and the viola da mano, the “hand viol,” the one with frets that you pluck, what you think of as a vihuela in other words. The Spaniards called them vihuela de arco (bowed vihuela) and vihuela de mano (plucked vihuela).

Voilà.