▪ Opinions differ as to the involvement of Ar as a mediator betw Grk
kitʰára and Western words for ‘guitar’. While Littmann and others hold that the Eur words go back to Andalusian Ar, others (e.g., EtymOnline) would not exclude the reverse, i.e., a dependence of the Ar word on the Span one (< Lat < Grk). Details:
▪ Littmann1924, 90-91: Ge
Gitarre, ultimately from Ar
qīṯāra,
qittāra (< Aram < Grk
kitʰára). The Grk word, which prob. is related to an old Oriental
Wanderwort, not only gave the Ar term, but also Ge
Zither etc.
▪ DWDS (< W. Pfeifer1989–): Ge
Gitarre (eC17) < Span
guitarra < SpanAr
qītāraẗ < Grk
kitʰára ‘Zupfinstrument, eine Art Lyra’ (cf.
Zither1
). Early attestations such as
Kitarre (1615),
Chitarron (1619) and prob. also
Chitarre (1824) are likely to go back to the Grk word, either directly or via It
chitarra. In C18 and C19, the form
Guitarre supersedes. From C18 until eC19,
Gitarre is soften used in the sense of
Zither.
▪ In contrast, EtymOnline reports that »[t]he Ar word is perh. from Span […], though often the relationship is said to be the reverse«. Accordingly, no Ar form is mentioned in the etymology of Engl
guitar (1620s): from Fr
guitare, which was altered by Span and Prov forms from oFr
guiterre, earlier
guiterne < Lat
cithara < Greek
kitʰára ‘cithara’, a triangular seven-stringed musical instrument related to the lyre, perh. from Pers
sihtār ‘three-stringed’, from
si ‘three’ (oPers
tʰri‑, cf. Engl
three) +
tār ’string’, from protIndEur root *
ten- ‘to stretch’ (cf. Engl
tension). »In post-classical times, the ancient instrument developed in many varieties in different places, keeping a local variant of the old name or a diminutive of it. Some of these local instruments subsequently became widely known, and many descendants of
kitʰára reached Engl in reference to various stringed, guitar-like instruments.«
▪ The two theories may be harmonized by assuming a development of two chains of borrowing that met again when the Arabs arrived in Spain – see above, section conc.
▪ Accord. to Kasha1968, the Grk
kitʰára had only four strings when it was imported into Greece. In the author’s view, the etymon is not
seh-tār (‘three strings’) but Pers
čahār tār ‘four strings’.
2
▪ The name of the North-African
kwitra (
kouitra, quitra), a 4-stringed plucked instrument in the lute family which »[t]oday […] is associated almost exclusively with the Arabo-Andalusī musical traditions […], particularly in schools in the border region between Algeria and Morocco«, originally means a ‘small
qītāraẗ‘, from the dimin.
quwaytiraẗ, »a Mozabarabic term for plucked, stringed instruments, which came to North Africa with Andalusian migrants«.
3
▪ …