Art & MusicGreek → English
Cittern
/ˈsɪtərn/noun
A flat-backed, wire-strung plucked instrument popular in Renaissance Europe.
The Greek roots
κιθάρα
kithára
lyre-like instrument
Literally: “kithara”
Follow a root:κιθάρα5 words
The story of the word
The name is Latin cithara reshaped in English under the influence of Italian cetera, which is why it looks so little like its ancestor. Cheap and quick to tune, the cittern became the ordinary person's instrument of Elizabethan England, and barbers kept one in the shop for waiting customers to strum. Playwrights used the battered barber's cittern as a stock insult for an ugly face.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Italian → English
- First recorded
- 16th century
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
citharaguitarzithergittern
In a sentence
The consort hired a cittern player for the dance sets.