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Etymologies

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Examples

  • Cf. "Od." viii. 248, 249, {aiei d 'emin dais te phile kitharis te khoroi te} | {eimata t' exemoiba loetra te therma kau eunai}, "and dear to us ever is the banquet and the harp and the dance, and changes of raiment, and the warm bath, and love and sleep"

    Hiero 431 BC-350? BC Xenophon 1874

Comments

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  • "Homer refers to Hermes's lyre as a kitharis. Vase paintings show the kitharis as a light instrument made from the carapace of a tortoise with oxhide stretched over the bowl and two curved and slender arms. The instrument's name can be traced back to the Assyrian chetarah of the second milennium B.C., to the ancient Hebrew kinnura or kinnor, and to the Chaldean qitra. The common root of all of these instruments is likely found in the Sanskrit chhatur-tar, meaning 'four strings.' The Sanskrit terms came into Persian as char (four) and tar (string) and from there into Greek."

    —Glenn Kurtz, Practicing: A Musician's Return to Music (New York: Vintage Books, 2007), 108

    November 3, 2008

  • Hmm, there's a cithara as well. And then of course all the way to guitar, though I'm not looking up the etymology of all of these!

    November 3, 2008

  • More story on kithara, sarra, if you're interested. :)

    November 3, 2008