The rud () is a Persian stringed musical instrument. In Persian, the word means "string".Martijn Theodoor Houtsma, "Ud" in E.J. Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936, Volume 2 " pp 987: "rud is of Persian origin and the word, like tar, means a string.

/ref> It has been mentioned in classical Persian literature by

Rudaki Rudaki (also spelled Rodaki; ; – 940/41) was a poet, singer, and musician who is regarded as the first major poet to write in New Persian. A court poet under the Samanids, he reportedly composed more than 180,000 verses, yet only a small p ...

Hafez (), known by his pen name Hafez ( or 'the keeper'; 1325–1390) or Hafiz, “Ḥāfeẓ” designates someoone who has learned the Qurʾān by heart" also known by his nickname Lisan al-Ghaib ('the tongue of the unseen'), was a Persian lyri ...

, Naser Khusraw,

Sanai Hakim Abul-Majd Majdūd ibn Ādam Sanā'ī Ghaznavi (), more commonly known as Sanai, was a poet from Ghazni. He lived his life in the Ghaznavid Empire which is now located in Afghanistan (At that time, Ghazni was considered part of the cultura ...

Ferdowsi Abu'l-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi (also Firdawsi, ; 940 – 1019/1025) was a Persians, Persian poet and the author of ''Shahnameh'' ("Book of Kings"), which is one of the world's longest epic poetry, epic poems created by a single poet, and the gre ...

, Nizami and

Qatran Tabrizi Qatran Tabrizi (; 1009–1014 – after 1088) was a Persian writer, who is considered to have been one of the leading poets in 11th-century Iran. A native of the northwestern region of Azarbaijan, he spent all of his life there as well as in the ...

other poets.Dehkhoda dictionary: Rud in accessed 2010 The Arabic 'Ud, whose etymology is not yet convincingly explained, may well have been derived from the Persian word rud.Eckhard Neubauer, "MUSIC HISTORY ii. CA. 650 TO 1370 CE" in Encyclopaedia Iranica

Excerpt: The Arabic 'Ud, whose etymology is not yet convincingly explained, may well have been derived from the Persian word rud. The Persian poet Ferdowsi states about it:
همه شب ببودند با نای و رود همی داد هرکس به خسرو درود. All night they were listening to the sound of the reed and the rud
Everyone who came to the banquet, paid his respect to the Khusraw In his treatise,

Abd al-Qadir Maraghi Abd al-Qadir al-Maraghi ibn Ghaybi (; ) was a music theorist, composer and performer of the Timurid Empire. A renowned writer on music and musician, his theories had a profound influence on subsequent Persian, Arab, and Turkish music. Life Abd ...

mentions the rud: "Rud Khwani: Up to half of its surface is covered by skin, and frets are fastened to it; it has four strings. It is played like an ancient ud." Researchers have found out that the first examples of the rud were made of gourds, and that the strings were made of silk and animal gut. It is remarkable that its appearance reminds one of a gourd. Its structure differs from that of other string instruments. Fish skin is pulled over half of the body's surface, and the other part is made of pine. Primarily, the instrument was played with the fingers; later it was played with the help of a plectrum made of soft material. The rud's body is made of mulberry wood and apricot wood, the neck and head are made of nut wood, and the pegs are made of pear wood. A total of 12 frets are fastened to the instrument's fret-board. The timbre of its sound is low. The total length of the instrument is 860 mm. The length of the body is 495 mm, the width is 335 mm and the height is 170 mm. The length of the neck is 285 mm. The scale of the rud ranges from the "mi" of the great octave to the "si" of the second octave.

References

{{Turkish musical instruments Necked bowl lutes Persian musical instruments Azerbaijani musical instruments Iranian inventions

See also

References