Re: Greek kitharis

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Francesco Brighenti" <frabrig@...>
wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> In the middle of a discussion on the Greek word kitharis- > kithara-
> 'box lyre'I am having with a local friend , I retrieved from the
> cybalist archives this very old message of Piotr's :
>
> http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/437
> > Mark, how do you establish the direction of borrowing in the case of
> > kitharis? It's a widespread "word of culture" for stringed
> > instruments, found from Greece to India. Our guitar is one of its
> > guises, and zither and sitar are further avatars of the same. Any
> > suggestions about the origin of the name?

> Greek kitharis- is attested in Homer. How can this word have any
> relation whatsoever with Persian sita:r-? I see that Beekes and many
> classicists consider kitharis- a pre-Greek term. Some connect it
> etymologically with kitharos- 'thorax' (which, according to M.L. West,
> may originally have designated a sort of foreign-made chest -- compare
> the "box"-element of the box-lyre).
>
> As a probable foreign loanword, kitharis- has been traced by some to
> the Semitic root *ktr-, which may have different meanings, but that in
> this particular case is thought to denote 'skillfulness'.
>
> Any new suggestions about the origin of the name?
>
> (The above quoted message by Piotr dates from 1999!)
>
> Thanks and best regards,
> Francesco

I'd suggest PIE *kantlom 'musical instrument [stringed]' > *ky~tHry~

> *kytHary in an Indo-Iranian language with features like an > y (in

some Nuristani) tr > tHr (Khowar, etc.), and V-insertion (id., many
others); from there borrowed widely.