Etymologically
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κιθάρα

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /ki.tʰá.raː/[1]
  • IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ciˈθa.ra/[1]
  • IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ciˈθa.ra/[1]

Forms

κῐθᾰ́ρᾱ (kithárā) f (genitive κῐθᾰ́ρᾱς); first declension[1]

Etymology

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, from Pre-Greek, because of the suffix -αρ-; earlier Indo-European and Semitic explanations are incorrect.[2][3] Scarborough's database rates this very reliable.[4] Frisk calls it a loanword from an unknown source, and the Πάπυρος dictionary suggests an eastern origin.[5][6] Wiktionary mentions a possible link with *kinnar (“lyre, harp”).[1]

The older form is κίθαρις (kítharis), already Homeric.[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The form κίθαρις (kítharis) is Homeric.[2] Κιθάρα itself is first recorded in Theognis (6th century BC), for lyre-music.[7][8]

Semantic evolution

Herodotus, Euripides, Plato, Aristotle and Plutarch use it for the kithara, the box-lyre, which had more strings and a louder sound than the archaic round-based lyre, and by metonymy for its music.[8] Its compound κιθαρῳδός (kitharōidós) was the singer who accompanied himself on it, and the verb κιθαρίζω (kitharízō) meant to play it.[2] By its shape it also named the chest, a flatfish, and in the plural the ribs of a horse.[2][1]

Latin borrowed it as cithara, and Aramaic and Arabic took it as well.[9][1] Medieval Greek borrowed the Venetian form chitara.[10] Modern Greek κιθάρα “guitar” is a learned form whose meaning follows Italian chitarra, which came from Latin through Arabic.[11]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad has the form κίθαρις.[2]
  • 6th century BC – Theognis uses κιθάρα.[7][8]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus and Euripides use it for the box-lyre.[8][4][12]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it.[8][12]
  • Modern Greek – κιθάρα means guitar.[11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The kithara, a box-lyre.[8][1]
  2. Lyre-playing, lyre music.[8][1]
  3. (plural) The ribs of a horse.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b Scarborough, Matthew (2025), PHILOGLOSSA: database of Pre-Greek and other non-Indo-European words in Ancient Greek, version 1.0
  5. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  6. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
  7. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  9. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  10. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  12. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge