Guitar History

The modern word guitar, and its antecedents, has been applied to a wide variety of chordophones since classical times and as such causes confusion. The English word guitar, the German Gitarre, and the French guitare were adopted from the Spanish guitarra, which comes from the Andalusian Arabic ?????? qitara,[5] itself derived from the Latin[citation needed] cithara, which in turn came from the Ancient Greek kappaiotathetaalpharhoalpha kithara.[A]

The definition of guitar is descended but the modern guitar itself is usually not considered to have descended from the Roman instrument. Many influences are mentioned as antecedents to the modern guitar. Even though the progression of the first "guitars" is lost in the history of medieval Spain, two instruments can be mentioned as their most powerful forerunners, the European lute and its own cousin, the four-string oud; the latter was brought to Iberia by the Moors in the 8th century.[6]


A guitarra latina (left) and a guitarra morisca (right), Spain, 13th century
At least two instruments called "guitars" were in use in Spain by 1200: the guitarra latina (Latin guitar) and the so-called guitarra moresca (Moorish guitar). The guitarra moresca had a round back, broad fingerboard, and several sound holes. The guitarra Latina had a single sound hole and a narrower neck.[7] By the 14th century the qualifiers "moresca" or "morisca" and "latina" had been dropped and these two cordophones were simply referred to as guitars.[8]

The Spanish vihuela or (in Italian) "viola da mano", a guitar-like instrument of the 15th and 16th centuries, is broadly thought to have become the single most important influence in the development of the baroque guitar. It'd six courses (normally), lute-like tuning in fourths and a guitar-like body, although early portrayals show an instrument with a forcefully cut waistline. It was also larger than the current four-class guitars. By the 16th century the vihuela's building had more in common with all the modern guitar, with its curved one-piece ribs, than with the viols, and more like a larger variant of the modern-day four-course guitars. The vihuela enjoyed only a relatively short period of popularity in Spain and Italy during an age dominated elsewhere in Europe from the lute; the last surviving published music for the instrument seemed in 1576.

Meanwhile the five-course baroque guitar, which was documented in Spain from the middle of the 16th century, have popularity, particularly in Spain, Italy and France from the late 16th century to the mid-18th century.[B][C] In Portugal, the term viola referred to the guitar, as guitarra meant the "Portuguese guitar", a variety of cittern.

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