rebec Chiefly Hist.
(ˈriːbɛk)
Forms: 6–7 rebecke, (7 -beke), 6–9 rebeck, (7 rebbeck); 8– rebec, (8 rebbec).
[a. F. rebec († rabec, 15th c.) = med.L. rebeca (c 1400), It. ribeca, Pg. rebeca, rabeca, app. variants of the forms cited under ribibe, but the alteration in the final consonant has not been clearly explained.]
a. A mediæval instrument of music, having three strings and played with a bow; an early form of the fiddle. (Also personified, in quot. 1509.)
| 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xvi. (Percy Soc.) 61 There sat dame Musyke, with all her mynstrasy;..Rebeckes, clary⁓cordes, eche in theyr degre, Dyd sytte aboute theyr ladyes mageste. c 1530 Ld. Berners Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814) 232 Than began..taboures, and rebeckes, and other instrumentes. 1598 Yong Diana 50 Syrenus did these verses sing, And on his Rebecke sweetely play. 1632 Milton L'Allegro 94 When..the jocond rebecks sound To many a youth, and many a maid. 1644 ― Areop. (Arb.) 50 The bag-pipe and the rebbeck. 1755 Smollett Quix. ii. iii. 56 [A] young fellow..who..can read and write, and play upon the rebec. 1811 Scott Don Roderick ii. xxv, Far to Asturian hills the war-sounds pass, And in their stead rebeck or timbrel rings. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. III. iv. 188 While round about the rebecks played. 1915 A. Dolmetsch Interpretat. Mus. 17th & 18th Cent. vii. 463 A little band consisting of a bass-viol, a tenor viol, a violin or rebec..and a flute. 1932 R. Donington Work & Ideas A. Dolmetsch 15 It is probably the rebecs that are the nearest relatives of the violins... A number of fine rebecs have recently been finished... Now that the difficulties of the preliminary research work have been overcome..the rebecs are not difficult or costly to make. 1955 Times 20 May 3/5 A concert for children will consist of recorder and harpsichord pieces..and ‘French brawls’ for rebec and tambourin. 1980 Early Music Jan. 87/3 Progress Instruments, by applying modern plastics to make the backs of rebecs and plucked stringed instruments, are seeking to bring them within everyone's purse without sacrificing their authenticity of tone. |
† b. ellipt. Applied to the player. Obs.
| 1540 Arundel MS. 97 lf. 122 b in Vicary's Anat. (1888) App. xii. 241 Item, for Thomas Evans, Rebeke, wagis xxs. viijd. 1647 Haward Crown Rev. 25, Musicians and Players,..Rebeck: [{pstlg}]28. 6. 8. |