qanun
Pluralqanuns
- 1A stringed instrument of the Near East and the Caucasus, related to the zither, dulcimer, or harp, with either 26 strings and one bridge or 42 strings and two bridges.
The qanun player plucked a rippling introduction before the oud and drums came in.
She spent three years learning the qanun before joining the city's classical Arabic orchestra.
Note
Its name runs back through Turkish and Arabic to Greek kanon, so qanun and canon are one word that reached English by two roads. The instrument is laid flat across the lap or a table and plucked, usually with small picks worn on the fingers, and it often shares the stage with the oud and drums, its jangling runs set against their deeper voices.
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Origin
From Turkish kanun, from Ottoman Turkish قانون (kanun), from Arabic قَانُون (qānūn), from Ancient Greek κανών (kanṓn). It is a doublet of canon.