gittern

== English == === Etymology === Inherited from Middle English giterne, from Old French guiterne, ultimately from Latin cithara. Doublet of cittern. === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈɡɪtən/ (General American) IPA(key): /ˈɡɪtəɹn/ Rhymes: -ɪtə(ɹ)n === Noun === gittern (plural gitterns) 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. Synonym: quintern ==== Alternative forms ==== ghittern ==== See also ==== Appendix:Glossary of chordophones === Verb === gittern (third-person singular simple present gitterns, present participle gitterning, simple past and past participle gitterned) 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 Literary History of his Time; Volume II, London and New York.: MacMillan and Co, 1871, page 109. [...] [E]ach evening every one with mistress, or Ganymede, glitterning along the streets, or solacing on the banks of Jordan, or down the stream. ==== Related terms ==== cither, cittern, zittern === Anagrams === gritten, retting