VIOL, a generic term for the bowed precursors of the violin (q.v.), but in England more specially applied to those immediate predecessors of the violin which are distinguished in Italy and Germany as the Gamba family. The chief characteristics of the viols were a flat back, sloping shoulders, "c"-shaped sound-holes, and a short finger-board with frets. All these features assumed different forms in the violin, which was derived rather from the guitar-fiddle than from the viol, the back becoming delicately arched, the shoulders reverting to the rounded outline of the guitar, the shape of the sound-holes changing from "c" to "f" and the finger-board being carried considerably nearer the bridge. The
viol family consisted of treble, alto, tenor and bass instruments, being further differentiated as da braccio or da gamba according to the positions in which they were held, against the arm or be tween the knees.