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): [ˈkɪ.tʰa.ra]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈt͡ʃiː.ta.ra]

Noun

cithara f (genitive citharae); first declension

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

Declension

First-declension noun.

	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

• Balkano-Romance:
  • Romanian: ceteră
• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: cetera, cetra
• Northern Gallo-Romance:
  • >? Middle French: citre
    • French: cistre (see there for further descendants)
• Southern Gallo-Romance:
  • Old Occitan: sedra, cidra
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Old Spanish: cedra

Borrowings:

• → Danish: citer
• → English: cithara, cither
• → French: cithare
• → Middle Dutch: cythaer
  • Dutch: citer
• → 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