cittern

[ sit-ern ]

/ ˈsɪt ərn /

an old musical instrument related to the guitar, having a flat, pear-shaped soundbox and wire strings.

Origin of cittern

1550–60; blend of Latin cithara (< Greek kithára lyre, kithara) and gittern

References to the cittern are plentiful in the literature of the 16th and 17th centuries.

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 4 |Various
A cittern or lute was part of the appointments of a barbers shop of the period.

The Mermaid Series. Edited by H. Ellis. The best plays of the old dramatists. Thomas Dekker. Edited, with an introduction and notes by Ernest Rhys. |Thomas Dekker
The instrument, a cittern with four strings, is being played by a bear.

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 6 |Various
The instrument, on which he doubtless accompanied his mournful love-songs, is a form of cittern.

Chaucer for Children |Mrs. H. R. Haweis

The popularity of the cittern was at its height in England and Germany during the 16th and 17th centuries.

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 4 |Various

cittern

/ (ˈsɪtɜːn) /

a medieval stringed instrument resembling a lute but having wire strings and a flat back Compare gittern

C16: perhaps a blend of cither + gittern