guitarra (Spanish)

Where does "guitarra" come from?

The Spanish word 'guitarra' traces its roots back to the Ancient Greek 'kithára,' an ancient stringed instrument. It journeyed through Aramaic and Arabic before entering Old Spanish, eventually evolving into the modern term we use today. This linguistic path highlights the instrument's long history as a cultural staple, linking it to related terms like 'cítara' as a linguistic doublet.

Full etymology tree

• guitarra (Spanish), 'guitar'
  • inherited guitarra (Old Spanish), 'classical guitar'
    • borrowed قِيثَارَة (qīṯāra) (Arabic), 'guitar'
      • borrowed קיתרא (qīṯārā) (Aramaic), 'any stringed musical instrument (guitar, harp, lyre, etc.)'
        • borrowed κῐθᾰ́ρᾱ (kĭthắrā) (Ancient Greek)

Cognates and doublets

• cedra (Spanish)
• cítara (Spanish)
• cítola (Spanish)

Descendants and derived words

• guitar (English)
• gitara (Cebuano)
• gittar (English)
• guitar (English)
• guittar (English)
• guitare (French)
• Gitarre (German)
• ģitāra (Latvian)
• гитара (Macedonian)
• gitara (Polish)
• gitara (Polish)
• гитара (Russian)

Updated July 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris