History and Origin of Guitar

The modern word GUITAR was adopted into English from Spanish guitarra, German gitarre, French guitare, Arabic qutara, itself derived from the Latin cithara, which in turn came from the earlier Greek work kithara.

From the 19th century a guitar-like plucked instrument emerged.  The guitar is descended from the Roman cithara brought by the Romans to Hispania around 40 AD.  In the 14th and 15th centuries the qualifiers moresca and latina were dropped and these four course instruments were simple called guitars.  The Spanish vihuela or (in Italian) viola da mano, a guitar-like instrument of the 15th and 16th centuries, is often considered a major influence in the development of the modern one.  It had six course lute-like instrument with a sharply cut waist.  It was also larger than the contemporary four course guitars.  Meanwhile the five course baroque guitar, which was documented in Spain from the middle of the 16th century, enjoyed popularity, especially in Spain, Italy and France from the late 16th century to the mid 18th century.  Confusingly, in Portugal, the word vihuela referred to the guitar, whereas guitarra meant the "Portuguese guitar", a variety of cittern.

The instrument is an ancient and noble one instrument, the history of which can be traced back to over 4000 years.  Many theories have been advance about its ancestry.  The sole evidence for the kithara theory is the similarity between the Greek work kithara and the Spanish quitarra.