Hi Stuart, Yes, the terms for plucked instruments are confusing all the time. Even this day - if you say guitar, some people think of the electric, other of the jazz, folk or even other instruments... However, I believe you mixed up something in my argument. The English guit(t)ar I simply mentioned as an example of confusing names for instruments - which point you clearly got. However, I'm not linking that (English) "guitar" but the cittern-type by the name "gittern" to the medieval gittern. If you're really interested, I might dig up my original article about it - where I link it to the Praetorius section of the "klein Englisch Zitterlein". Ward's book is a good starting point in any case, to trace it's first introduction to England in 1550 and later developments. Kind regards, Pieter _______________________________________________________________________
Van: "WALSH STUART" <[email protected]> Verzonden: dinsdag 29 januari 2013 20:35 Aan: "William Samson" <[email protected]> Onderwerp: [LUTE] Re: 6c guittar On 29/01/2013 18:11, William Samson wrote: > What a gorgeous sound! > > Now are you SURE it's a 'guittar'? Not a Gittariglia? Or a > Kitherone? Or a Banjino Scotsese? Or a Mandolele Giorgio Formbyana? > Or a Strattolino Hankus B. Marviniensis?. . . I've just left a compliment to Rob on youtube. So, now, to get back to arguing. I think Pieter was hinting at an argument that the 'English guitar' (dunno how Rob how got himself to actually write those words out!) is a descendant of the medieval gittern. He (Pieter) might have been suggesting that even as late as the 18th century, the terms guitar, guittar, gittern etc etc etc for people in Britain didn't simply, or only, or even most naturally, mean the figure-of-eight thing. (The insistence, today, of the double tt spelling of 'guittar' rather than 'guitar' to somehow show that the English guitar isn't really a guitar, would, I think have baffled people at the time of its popularity.) Today we think it is so odd that 18th century Brits called the English guitar (a sort of cittern) a common guitar, a lesser guitar, a guitar, guittar (and quite a few other names).At the time, though, they might not have thought it so odd because they didn't have the concept that the only possible thing an instrument called a guitar, guittar, gittern etc etc must be the figure-of-eight, 'Spanish' guitar. It's arbitrary that we have settled on one spelling (in English) - "guitar", and one form, the figure-of-eight body type, from all the names in the past with which it stood on equal footing - guitern, gittern, guittar, gytron etc etc etc which might have meant at different times, lute-like things, cittern-like things and figure-of-eight thingies. So today, when we see the word 'guitar' we are apt to think the instrument 'must' be a figure-of-eight instrument (at the very least). But this can mislead us about the past. And this is what I understand R. Meucci to be saying about the Italian word, 'chitarra' (and variant spellings of it). Stuart > > Looking forward to hearing it in the flesh on Saturday at the Scottish > Lute and Early Guitar Society meeting! > > Bill > From: Rob MacKillop <[email protected]> > To: Lute <[email protected]> > Sent: Tuesday, 29 January 2013, 17:37 > Subject: [LUTE] 6c guittar > Just to get us away from all the bickering... > [1][1]http://youtu.be/N3YaFJxWCXk > Rob > -- > References > 1. [2]http://youtu.be/N3YaFJxWCXk > To get on or off this list see list information at > [3]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > -- > > References > > 1. http://youtu.be/N3YaFJxWCXk > 2. http://youtu.be/N3YaFJxWCXk > 3. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > --
