guitar: [17] The Greek kithárā was a stringed musical instrument of the lyre family, which has bequeathed its name to a variety of successors. Via Latin cithara came English citole [14], a medieval stringed instrument, and German zither (borrowed by English in the 19th century), while Arabic took it over as qītār and passed it on to Spanish as guitarra.
French adopted it in the form guitare (which eventually superseded the earlier guiterne), and it eventually reached English. (The history of guiterne, incidentally, is not entirely clear, although it is obviously a member of the kithárā family. English acquired it as gittern [14], applied to an early form of guitar, and it seems to have been blended with Latin cithara to produce English cithern or cittern [16], the name of a plucked stringed instrument of Renaissance times.) => zither
guitar (n.)
lute-like musical instrument, 1620s, from French guitare, which was altered by Spanish and Provençal forms from Old French guiterre, earlier guiterne, from Latin cithara, from Greek kithara "cithara," a triangular seven-stringed musical instrument related to the lyre, perhaps from Persian sihtar (see sitar). The name reached English several times, including giterne (early 14c., from Old French), in reference to various stringed, guitar-like instruments; the modern word is also directly from Spanish guitarra (14c.), which ultimately is from the Greek. The Arabic word is perhaps from Spanish or Greek, though often the relationship is said to be the reverse. The modern guitar is one of a large class of instruments used in all countries and ages but particularly popular in Spain and periodically so in France and England. Other 17c, forms of the word in English include guittara, guitarra, gittar, and guitarre. Compare zither, gittern.
双语例句
1. Molly had cringed when Ann started picking up the guitar.
安开始弹吉他时，莫莉感到有些难堪。
来自柯林斯例句
2. He spent his adolescent years playing guitar in the church band.
他在教堂的乐队里弹吉他，度过了他的青少年时期。
来自柯林斯例句
3. The song is a fiery mix of twanging guitar with relentless drumming.
那是一首夹杂着撩拨的吉他声和密集的鼓点的激情四射的歌曲。
来自柯林斯例句
4. Bronka is somewhat infamous for his screeching electric guitar work.
布朗卡因为弹出刺耳的电吉他声而有些让人讨厌。
来自柯林斯例句
5. She smiled her thanks and arranged the guitar under her arm.
