gittern
A small, quill-plucked, gut-strung musical instrument, most commonly with three to…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.
Meaning
1 sensesA 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.
a 16th century musical instrument resembling a guitar with a pear-shaped soundbox and wire strings
Origin
Inherited from Middle English giterne, from Old French guiterne, ultimately from Latin citInherited from Middle English giterne, from Old French guiterne, ultimately from Latin cithara. Doublet of cittern.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.