different between lyre vs plectrum

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ???? (lúra, “lyre, a stringed instrument with a sounding-board formed of the shell of a tortoise”). Doublet of lira and Lyra.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?la?.?/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?la?.?/, /la??/
• Rhymes: -a??(r)
• Homophones: liar, lier

Noun

lyre (plural lyres)

1. (music) An ancient stringed musical instrument (a yoke lute chordophone) of Greek origin, consisting of two arms extending from a body to a crossbar (a yoke), and strings, parallel to the soundboard, connecting the body to the yoke.
   1. Any instrument of the same musicological classification; any yoke lute.
2. A lyre-shaped sheet music holder that attaches to a wind instrument when a music stand is impractical.
3. (obsolete) A composer of lyric poetry.

Related terms

• Lyra
• lyrebird
• lyrical

Synonyms

• (a general class of instruments): yoke lute

References

• 2012. Kisir and Tanbura. Dahab Khalil and Artur Simon. Pg. 96.
• 2007. Origins and Development of Musical Instruments. Jeremy Montagu. Pg. 128.

Translations

See also

• harp

Further reading

• lyre in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• lyre in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Homophones

• lire

Anagrams

• Ryle, rely

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /li?/

Noun

lyre f (plural lyres)

1. lyre
2. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

lyre f or m (definite singular lyra or lyren, indefinite plural lyrer, definite plural lyrene)

1. (music) a lyre

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

lyre f (definite singular lyra, indefinite plural lyrer, definite plural lyrene)

1. (music) a lyre

English

Alternative forms

• plectron

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pl?ctrum, from Ancient Greek ???????? (plêktron, “anything to strike with, an instrument for striking the lyre, a spear point”), from ???????? (pl?ssein, “to strike, to smite, to sting”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?pl?k.t??m/

Noun

plectrum (plural plectrums or plectra)

1. (music) A small piece of plastic, metal, ivory, etc., for plucking the strings of a guitar, lyre, mandolin, etc.
2. (anatomy, zoology) A projection of bone or other stiff tissue, such as the ridges in some insects' stridulatory organs.

Synonyms

• (music): guitar pick; pick; plectre (obsolete)

Translations

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pl?ctrum, from Ancient Greek ???????? (plêktron).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?pl?k.tr?m/
• Hyphenation: plec?trum

Noun

plectrum n (plural plectrums or plectra, diminutive plectrumpje n)

1. plectrum, pick (object for plucking certain string instruments)

Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ???????? (plêktron), from ?????? (pl?ss?, “to strike, sting”), also analyzable as pl?ct? +? -trum.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?ple?k.trum/, [?p??e?kt?????]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?plek.trum/, [?pl?kt??um]

Noun

pl?ctrum n (genitive pl?ctr?); second declension

1. a plectrum; tool for playing a stringed instrument
2. a lyre, lute

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Descendants

• ? English: plectrum
• ? French: plectre
• ? Italian: plettro
• ? Portuguese: plectro
• ? Spanish: plectro

Further reading

• plectrum in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• plectrum in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• plectrum in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• plectrum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• plectrum in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• plectrum in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin