What does gamba mean?
The gamba, more fully the viola da gamba, is a bowed string instrument that flourished from the Renaissance through the Baroque era. Held upright between the player's legs — hence its name, which means 'leg' in Italian — and fretted like a lute, it typically carries six or seven strings tuned in fourths and thirds, giving it a gentle, reedy, vocal tone distinct from the brighter violin family. Ensembles of gambas were prized for consorts of fantasy and dance music, and composers such as Purcell, Marais, and Bach wrote significant parts for them. The word also survives in organ-building as the 'gamba stop', which mimics the instrument's sound. Though superseded by the cello in mainstream performance, the gamba has enjoyed a strong revival among historically informed performers, making it a familiar presence on today's early-music stage.
A fretted, bow-played string instrument of the viol family, held between the knees and used especially in music from the Renaissance and Baroque periods.
"A treble gamba carried the ornamented melody line over the continuo."
Usually encountered in the fuller form 'viola da gamba'; 'gamba' alone is typical shorthand among players and early-music enthusiasts.
An organ stop producing a soft, string-like tone modelled on the sound of the viola da gamba.
"The nineteenth-century instrument featured a pair of gambas in the swell division."
In organ terminology both the singular 'gamba' and plural 'gambas' are standard.
English usage normally takes 'gambas'; the anglicised plural is preferred outside Italian musical contexts.
"Two gambas formed the heart of the consort."
Its name literally means 'leg' in Italian — because this elegant ancestor of the cello was played clamped between the knees.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of gamba
The word gamba comes from the Italian gamba, meaning 'leg', which descends from the Latin gamba, originally referring to an animal's shank or hock. Because the instrument was held between the performer's legs, Italians named it viola da gamba, 'leg viol', to distinguish it from the arm-held viola da braccio family. The Latin root spread widely through Romance languages, yielding French jambe ('leg') and English derivatives such as jamb, gambol, and gammon.
Related word forms
How gamba is actually used
The word is largely confined to early-music circles and organ terminology; in general writing, the full form 'viola da gamba' is more common than 'gamba' alone. It retains a scholarly, period-instrument connotation rather than everyday use.
Easily confused with gamba
Gamma is the third letter of the Greek alphabet, whereas gamba is a stringed instrument (or its organ-stop imitation); they merely share similar spelling.