A stringed musical instrument popular in Renaissance Europe, similar to a lute or guitar with a flat body and metal strings.
From Greek 'kithara' (an ancient stringed instrument) via Italian 'citara,' evolving through medieval and Renaissance musical terminology. Related to 'cither' and 'guitar.'
The cittern was the affordable guitar of the 1500s—tavern musicians played them instead of expensive lutes, and they show up in old paintings as the common person's instrument, kind of like how a ukulele is today.
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