gittern
A small, quill-plucked, gut-strung musical instrument, most commonly with three to four strings in doubles courses; it is a flat-backed predecessor of the guitar, and it originated around the 13th century, coming to Europe via Moorish Spain.
Noun
- A small, quill-plucked, gut-strung musical instrument, most commonly with three to four strings in doubles courses; it is a flat-backed predecessor of the guitar, and it originated around the 13th century, coming to Europe via Moorish Spain.
- Now they can no more hear thy ghittern’s tune, / For venturing syllables that ill beseem / The quiet glooms of such a piteous theme. - 1820, John Keats, “Isabella; or, The Pot of Basil. A Story from Boccaccio.”, in...
Synonyms: quintern
Origin
Inherited from Middle English giterne, from Old French guiterne, ultimately from Latin cithara. Doublet of cittern.
Forms
Verb
- To play on the gittern.
- c. 1639-1640. John Milton, The Cambridge Manuscript; Excerpts from pages 35-41, as Reprinted in David Masson, editor & author, The Life of John Milton: Narrated in Connection with the Political, Ecclesiastical, and...