Persian Oud

The origin of the name oud (and its etymological cousin, lute) for the musical instrument is uncertain. The Arabic: العود‎ (al-ʿūd) literally denotes a thin piece of wood similar to the shape of a straw. It may refer to the wooden plectrumtraditionally used for playing the oud, to the thin strips of wood used for the back, or to the wooden soundboard that distinguished it from similar instruments with skin-faced bodies.^[5]

Research by Eckhard Neubauer suggests that oud may simply be an Arabic borrowing from the Persian word rōd orrūd, which meant string, stringed instrument, or lute.^[6][7] Eckhart had been cited in articles in the Encyclopædia