Page "Kobza" Paragraph 3

The term kobza is of Turkic origin and is related to the terms kobyz and komuz, thought to have been introduced into the Ukrainian language in the 13th century with the migration of a sizable group of Turkic people from Abkhazia settling in the Poltava region.

It was usually played by a bard or minstrel known as a kobzar ( occasionally in earlier times a kobeznik ), who accompanies his recitation of epic poetry called duma in Ukrainian.