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zither

ZITH-er · noun

Origin

Borrowed from German Zither, from Old High German zithara, from Latin cithara, from Ancient Greek κιθάρα (kithára, "a kind of harp").

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Journey

The word traveled from Ancient Greek into Latin, then into Old High German and finally German, before English borrowed it as "zither" — the sound shifting slightly at each stop while still pointing to the same family of stringed instruments.

Related words

It's a doublet of cithara, cither, and guitar — all descendants of that same Greek word for a kind of harp.

More words

From Old High German

Nearby, A–Z

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