Ancient (possibly Viking) instrument with 2 to 6 strings shaped like a lyre, but played with a bow.

Minor variants occur across the Nordic region. In Finland, it is known as the jouhikko (pictured) , The Norwegian version, known as a kraviklyra, typically has a long, narrow outline, sometimes with only a small hand hole which is offset to one side, allowing only one of the 3 strings to be stopped. The middle string is a drone, the string furthest from the hand hole is used to play the first note of the scale.

It seems that the bowed lyre spread from Scandinavia with Viking colonists and was taken to the Scottish islands, many of which were until comparatively recently culturally much more Nordic than Celtic. The bowed lyre survived longest on Shetland, where it was known as late as the 1800s as the gue. Eventually it was rendered obsolete by the fiddle and fell out of use. No physical examples survive but written accounts describe it as being played upright between the knees (in the manner of the Baltic lyres), having 2 horsehair strings and usually played for weddings and other celebrations.