Banjo

Everyone is familiar with the banjo. The AHD defines it as "A usually fretted stringed instrument having a narrow neck and a hollow circular body with a covering of skin or plastic under the bridge." It's a very common instrument with a very uncommon name. Wondering how the banjo obtained its name, I looked it up. The Oxford Companion to Music points out that "The banjo was developed by slaves on West Indian and American plantations" which accounts for the fact that it "is reminiscent of some West African instruments." The name may have come from one of these West African instruments: the banjo is probably akin to "a plucked stringed instrument" called an "mbanza" (AHD).