cithara

See also: cíthara

English

Illustration of a woman playing a cithara.

Alternative forms

• kithara

Etymology

From Latin cithara, from Ancient Greek κιθάρα (kithára). Doublet of cither, guitar, kithara, kissar, and zither.

Noun

cithara (plural citharas or citharai or citharae or (archaic) citharæ)

1. (music) An ancient Greek stringed instrument, which could be considered a forerunner of the guitar

Related terms

• citharist
• citharoedic
• citole

Anagrams

• Cathari, Chaitra, cathair, chirata

Latin

Alternative forms

• citera, chitera, chitarus

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek κιθάρα (kithára), with the common vacillation in the unstressed /er~ar/, as in Caesar- ~ Caeser-, hilaris ~ hilerus, materis ~ mataris.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈki.tʰa.ra/, [ˈkɪt̪ʰärä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃi.ta.ra/, [ˈt͡ʃiːt̪ärä]

Noun

cithara f (genitive citharae); first declension

1. (music) cithara, cittern, zither, lyre, lute, guitar
2. (New Latin) guitar (ellipsis of cithara hispānica.)

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	cithara	citharae
Genitive	citharae	citharārum
Dative	citharae	citharīs
Accusative	citharam	citharās
Ablative	citharā	citharīs
Vocative	cithara	citharae

Derived terms

• citharicen
• citharista
• citharizō

Descendants

• Middle French: citre
  • French: cistre
• Italian: cetera, cetra
• Old Occitan: sedra, cidra
• Old Spanish: cedra
• Romanian: ceteră

Borrowings:

• → Arabic: قِيثَارَة (qīṯāra) (see there for further descendants)
• → Danish: citer
• → Middle Dutch: cythaer
  • Dutch: citer
• → English: cithara, cither
• → French: cithare
• → Old High German: zitera, cithara
  • German: Zither (see there for further descendants)
• → Portuguese: cítara
• → Spanish: cítara

References

• “cithara”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “cithara”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• cithara in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “cithara”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “cithara”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin