Friday word: Zither

[med_cat]

Another z-word ;)
~~
zith·er noun \ˈzi-thər, -thər\

: a musical instrument that has strings stretched across a shallow wooden box and that is played with your fingers or a pick

: a stringed instrument having usually 30 to 40 strings over a shallow horizontal soundboard and played with pick and fingers

Etymology:

German, from Old High German zitara, cithara, from Latin cithara kithara, from Greek kithara

First Known Use: 1850

You can see one such highly decorated instrument over here

Comments

[sonneta.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that one is pretty!

R.E.M. has a song called "Zither" which features said instrument.

[med_cat]

The decoration is quite elaborate, isn't it :)

Thanks for the song recommendation, I'll have to look it up.

[theidolhands.livejournal.com]

Another great-sounding word, I don't think I ever knew it was German in origin either. Thank you!

[med_cat]

I didn't know it either, and ultimately, it's Greek--the ancient Greek writers mention kithara players...

And you're most welcome!