ar Ghittern

The cittern has retained the following characteristics of the archetype.
(1) The derivation of the name, which after the introduction of the bow
was used to characterize various instruments whose strings were twanged
by fingers or plectrum, such as the harp and the rotta (both known as
_cithara_), the citola and the zither. In an interlinear Latin and
Anglo-Saxon version of the Psalms, dated A.D. 700 (Brit. Mus., Vesp. A.
1), _cithara_ is translated _citran_, from which it is not difficult to
trace the English _cithron, citteran, cittarn_, of the 16th century. (2)
The construction of the sound-chest with flat back and sound-board
connected by ribs. The pear-shaped outline was possibly borrowed from
the Eastern instruments, both bowed as the rebab and twanged as the
lute, so common all over Europe during the middle ages, or more probably
derived from the _kithara_ of the Greeks of Asia Minor, which had the
corners rounded. These early steps in the transition from the _cithara_
may be seen in the miniatures of the Utrecht Psalter,[9] a unique and
much-copied Carolingian MS. executed at Reims (9th century), the
illustrations of which were undoubtedly adapted from an earlier psalter
from the Christian East. The instruments which remained true to the
prototype in outline as well as in construction and in the derivation
of the name were the ghittern and the guitar, so often confused with the
cittern. It is evident that the kinship of cittern and guitar was
formerly recognized, for during the 18th century, as stated above, the
cittern was known as the English guitar to distinguish it from the
Spanish guitar. The grotesque head, popularly considered the
characteristic feature of the cittern, was probably added in the 12th
century at a time when this style of decoration was very noticeable in
other musical instruments, such as the cornet or _Zinck_, the
_Platerspiel_, the chaunter of the bagpipe, &c. The cittern of the
middle ages was also to be found in oval shape. From the 13th century
representations of the pear-shaped instrument abound in miniatures and
carvings.[10]

A very clearly drawn cittern of the 14th century occurs in a MS.
treatise on astronomy (Sloane MS. 3983, Brit. Mus.) translated from
the Persian of Albumazar into Latin by Georgius Zothari Zopari
Fenduli, priest and philosopher, with a prologue and numerous
illustrations by his own hand; the cittern is here called _giga_