cittern
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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English[edit]
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Etymology[edit]
Noun[edit]
cittern (plural citterns)
- (music) A stringed instrument similar to a mandolin which is an early form of guitar.
- 1661 January 17, Samuel Pepys, Diary of Samuel Pepys: January 1661,
- This discourse took us much time, till it was time to go to bed; but we being merry, we bade my Lady goodnight, and intended to have gone to the Post-house to drink, and hear a pretty girl play of the cittern (and indeed we should have lain there, but by a mistake we did not), but it was late, and we could not hear her, and the guard came to examine what we were; so we returned to our Inn and to bed, the page and I in one bed, and the two captains in another, all in one chamber, where we had very good mirth with our most abominable lodging.
- 1911, Cittern, article in Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition,
- The cittern consisted of a pear-shaped body similar to that of the lute but with a flat back and sound-board joined by ribs. The neck was provided with a fretted fingerboard; the head was curved and surmounted by a grotesque head of a woman or of an animal.
- 1911, Guitar, article in Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition,
- The advent of the Spanish guitar in England led to the wane in the popularity of the cittern, also known at that time in contradistinction as the English or wire-strung guitar, although the two instruments differed in many particulars.
- 2000, Musical Instruments Museum, Visitor's Guide, page 93,
- Antwerp was world-famous for its harpsichords, but it was also a centre, in the 16th century, where citterns, lutes, viols and later violins were constructed with skill.
- 1661 January 17, Samuel Pepys, Diary of Samuel Pepys: January 1661,
