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Mandolin vs Cittern - What's the difference?

mandolin | cittern |

As nouns the difference between mandolin and cittern

is that mandolin is a stringed instrument and a member of the lute family, having eight strings in four courses, frequently tuned as a violin. They have either a bowl back or a flat back while cittern is a stringed instrument similar to a mandolin which is an early form of guitar.

mandolin

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • (music) A stringed instrument and a member of the lute family, having eight strings in four courses, frequently tuned as a violin. They have either a bowl back or a flat back.
  • A kitchen tool used for slicing vegetables (usually spelled mandoline).
  • (military) An RAF World War II code name for patrols to attack enemy railway transport and other ground targets.

    • Derived terms

    * mandolinist

    Related terms

    * mandola, manjo, mandolin-banjo, banjo-mandolin, banjolin

    External links

    * * * (commonslite)

    cittern

    English

    (wikipedia cittern)

    Alternative forms

    * cither * zittern

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (musical instrument) A stringed instrument similar to a mandolin which is an early form of guitar.
  • * 1661 January 17, ,
    • This discourse took us much time, till it was time to go to bed; but we being merry, we bade my Lady goodnight, and intended to have gone to the Post-house to drink, and hear a pretty girl play of the cittern (and indeed we should have lain there, but by a mistake we did not), but it was late, and we could not hear her, and the guard came to examine what we were; so we returned to our Inn and to bed, the page and I in one bed, and the two captains in another, all in one chamber, where we had very good mirth with our most abominable lodging.
  • * 1911', '' ,
    • The cittern consisted of a pear-shaped body similar to that of the lute but with a flat back and sound-board joined by ribs. The neck was provided with a fretted fingerboard; the head was curved and surmounted by a grotesque head of a woman or of an animal.
  • * 1911 , ,
    • The advent of the Spanish guitar in England led to the wane in the popularity of the cittern , also known at that time in contradistinction as the English or wire-strung guitar, although the two instruments differed in many particulars.
  • * 2000 , Musical Instruments Museum, Visitor's Guide , page 93,
    • Antwerp was world-famous for its harpsichords, but it was also a centre, in the 16th century, where citterns , lutes, viols and later violins were constructed with skill.