Violone

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A large, deep-bodied string instrument that has historical significance in orchestral settings and produces a resonant bass sound
2. A sizable stringed instrument valued for its deep, rich tones and used primarily in early music ensembles
3. A sizeable bowed instrument that provides low-pitched sounds and was common in historical musical compositions

Etymology: The name is simply Italian for "big viola." Italian "viola" (the viola, and in earlier usage a family of bowed instruments) takes the augmentative suffix "-one," which makes it larger, so "violone" literally means "large viola." The augmentative is a familiar Italian pattern: adding "-one" to a noun signals something bigger than the original, much as "-oon" does in English loanwords. English borrowed the term directly from Italian. Instead of naming the instrument after its tuning or its maker, musicians simply described it by size relative to a smaller member of the same family, which tells you how the instrument was understood: as the bass sibling of the viola, a deeper voice in the same bowed-string tradition.