by Aleksander Hasanas. Translated by Petrit Latifi

Abstract

This article examines the Albanian lahuta as both a musical instrument and a cultural artifact, focusing on its construction, sound production, symbolic ornamentation, and proposed etymologies. The lahuta is a one-stringed bowed instrument carved from a single piece of wood, with a leather-covered soundbox and a bow made of horsehair. Its acoustic qualities depend primarily on the treatment of leather and bow hair rather than on the wood itself. Beyond its physical form, the lahuta occupies a central role in Albanian epic tradition and mythic narrative. The article reviews various etymological interpretations of the term “lahutë,” including hypotheses of internal Albanian development and symbolic associations, while noting the absence of a definitive explanation in classical or Indo-European languages.

The Lahuta

The lute (lahuta) consists of an oval-shaped wooden case, hollowed out inside. This ‘hut – box-like’ cavity is covered with tanned leather or çapër, as it is called in Malësia e Madhe. The entire lute consists of a single piece of wood, made of maple, chestnut, alder, oak or walnut, and other types of wood that are easily hollowed out, in the shape of a crescent moon curved into a crescent shape which is called agrec (Krujë), budat (Tropojë), ras (Malësia e Madhe), drockak (Dukagjin).

The çapër of the suprîn consists of tanned goat leather or cattle skin placed on the smooth upper side. The key is made of hard wood. The bow (argeci) is usually made of birch, walnut, etc. Its strings are made of black horsehair, 30 strings are twisted and placed from one side of the bow to the other, creating tension and arching the bowstring. The bow hairs are coated with wild pine resin.

The quality of the sound and resonance of this instrument is not determined by the type and quality of the wood but more by the quality of the leather and its processing, the processing of the bow hairs, etc. The lute’s tail, which is the continuation of the case, does not have a separate keyboard and ends with a carved goat’s head. The technique of carving numerous figures, which are realized with expressive force, presents many symbols of ancient cultures in other areas of life, in various objects, in constructions, etc.

Etymology

The sound is produced by passing a bow through the lute’s tail, while the chords are changed by touching the tail with the fingers of the other hand. The etymology of the word “lahutë” remains unclear in all ancient languages ​​such as Greek, Latin, Proto-Germanic, etc.

The lahut remains an inseparable part of the epic of the Cretans, it is a musical instrument, a traditional archaic folk art work that carries mythical subjects of the most ancient Illyrian-Albanian pantheon.

In the Albanian language and only in it we have another musical instrument called Ut (daughter of Ut) – so we have Ut and ‘la ut’ > Lahuta musical instrument which emits high wailing, “praying” sounds similar to the Huta of the mountains, a type of owl, with a large, round head, with a short, upturned beak like the Albanian one, which lives in the forests and sings at night as if wailing. Huti bird. Huti song.

This is ‘La + (h)Uta’ musical instrument the same as ‘Uta’ and thin mournful sounds, like Huta, tearful, floating, praying – praising melody.

Meanwhile in Albanian we have the word: UTOPIA f.

1. Ideal image of human society or of a perfect social order without exploitation and without class struggle; unrealizable dream, dream, fantasy.
2. let. Work in which the writer presents as something real a dream or an image of a place with an ideal social order.

Again we have a connection of this word ‘utopia’ with melody, created from ‘utit > Lahuti their fantasy weaving by the lute player, dream, ‘playing’ with his ‘toy’, and praying and weaving praise to ‘Father – God’
In the Albanian language we have exactly this synonym ‘todër’ => Musical instrument and from them by playing with them we get Melody, sounds from the most diverse sounds, is the Albanian word ‘Me + lod’, with play, with prayer, with lahute = Melody, with todër, todra musical instrument, (da u la), Drum, etc. Melōidia; Melody. (Play a piece of music)

And further from our Albanian word Lahuta closely related to the ancient names from Albanian ‘Ut- musical instrument’ and ‘Huta – wailing bird (owl)’ we have another well-known name of musical instrument -loder- namely ‘Flautin’ In this word in this name it is enough to remove its initial letter (f) and we have there the word ‘Laut + F => F’laut’, this happens for another reason because the Flute is a wind instrument with fourteen holes but at its head where the lips are placed it comes sharp closed thin ‘leaf’ hence it is called “f’laut”

Finally it should be noted that the shape itself ‘kutia < kuti < uti’ of the Lahuta is such a round shape similar to the shape of the night bird Huta – symbol of the Moon lady ‘Ate’ (la ate, La ōtë, La ute, Lute).

In ancient words (palaeolexicon) we find *κυτος; kut-os related to IE *-kHu-ti- => Round enveloping box, swelling.