(It.)
A term that suggests a lute rebuilt into a theorbo-like instrument, but it was stated by Alessandro Piccinini (1623) to be merely a synonym for arciliuto (see Archlute); in any event the top two courses of a theorbo are tuned an octave lower than those (of a liuto attiorbato). The English term ‘theorbo lute’ referred, in many instances, to the theorbo and not to the liuto attiorbato. Thomas Mace (Musick’s Monument, 1676) used the terms ‘theorbo’ and ‘theorbo lute’ ir terchangeably, and called the two-headed lute merely a ‘French lute with two heads’ (not ‘theorbo lute’).
R. Spencer: ‘Chitarrone, Theorbo and Archlute’, Early Music, iv (1976) 407
ROBERT SPENCER