Question

What is a lute? What is the history of the lute? When was the lute used?

Answer 1

The lute was played in Europe for over 500 years and, for some of that time, was the most important musical instrument in European culture. The ancestor of the European lute is the north African and middle eastern musical instrument, the ud, (also spelled oud). The ud resembles the European lute and has four pairs of strings which are played with a plectrum. Obvious visual differences are the ud's curved pegbox and the presence of more than one rose. In Arabic 'al ud' means 'the wood' and this has given our language the word 'lute'. The ud has existed for over a thousand years and is still played today.
http://www.art-robb.co.uk/hist.html