The modern Portuguese equivalent to the 'Spanish guitar' is still generally known as viola (violão in Brazil - literally large viola), as are some smaller regional related instruments. Portuguese 'viola' (like Italian), is cognate with Spanish 'vihuela'. Unlike in Spain, all these instruments traditionally used metal strings until the advent of modern nylon strings. While the modern "violão" is now commonly strung with nylon (although steel string variations still exist), in Portugal musicians differentiate between the nylon strung version as "guitarra clássica" and the traditional instrument as "viola de Fado", reflecting the historical relationship with fado music.