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The cythara is a wide group of stringed instruments of medieval and Renaissance Europe, including not only the lyre and harp but also necked, string instruments. [1] In fact, unless a medieval document gives an indication that it meant a necked instrument, then it likely was referring to a lyre.
The earliest reference to the word "lyre" is the Mycenaean Greek ru-ra-ta-e, meaning "lyrists" and written in the Linear B script. [6] In classical Greek, the word "lyre" could either refer specifically to an amateur instrument, which is a smaller version of the professional cithara and eastern-Aegean barbiton, or "lyre" can refer generally to all three instruments as a family. [7]
The Anglo-Saxon lyre, also known as the Germanic lyre, a rotta, (Old Norse : Hörpu) [1] or the Viking lyre, is a large plucked and strummed lyre that was played in Anglo-Saxon England, and more widely, in Germanic regions of northwestern Europe. The oldest lyre found in England dates before 450 AD and the most recent dates to the 10th century.
In Medieval Latin it is called the chorus or crotta. The Welsh word crythor means a performer on the crwth. The Irish word is cruit, although it also was used on occasion to designate certain small harps. The English surnames Crewther, Crowder, Crother and Crowther denote a player of the crowd, as do the Scottish names MacWhirter and MacWhorter.
The kithara (Greek: κιθάρα, romanized: kithára), Latinized as cithara, was an ancient Greek musical instrument in the yoke lutes family. It was a seven-stringed professional version of the lyre, which was regarded as a rustic, or folk instrument, appropriate for teaching music to beginners.
The rotta (also rotte, chrotta or hrotta) is a type of lyre that was widely used in north-western Europe from pre-Christian to medieval times. It a descendant of the ancient lyre which originated in western Asia, was adopted in Ancient Egypt, and then adopted and adapted by the Ancient Greeks as the cithara. [1] One variant is the Anglo-Saxon lyre.
Welsh and Middle English words for the 3-5 string bowed instrument included crwth, chorus, crot, and crowd. [47] Irish used cruit (indicating a lyre and later a frame harp). [47] Seen in Wales into the 18th century. [47] Modern surviving instruments come from Karelia (jouhikko), the Estonian hiiukannel, Swedish stråkharpa, and Norwegian ...
The Celtic harp developed into an instrument distinct from other types of medieval harp. For instance, it featured a trapezoid-shaped soundboard, curved column, and wire strings. Irish bards who traveled extensively throughout Europe brought knowledge of this style of instrument to the continent. Dante references this instrument in his writings ...