λύρα

Lyra is the Greek word for a stringed instrument consisting of two arms, a crossbar, and strings stretched from the crossbar to a resonating body (usually a tortoise shell). The word's own etymology is unclear — it may predate Greek. The instrument was foundational to Greek culture. Homer's poets accompanied themselves on the lyre. Orpheus played one. Apollo was its patron. The lyre was the instrument of civilization.

The lyra and the kithara were different instruments, though both are loosely called 'lyres' in English. The lyra was smaller, simpler, and associated with amateur performance — education, symposia, private entertainment. The kithara was larger, louder, and professional. The distinction mattered to the Greeks: a young man playing lyra at a dinner party was cultured; a professional kitharist performing at a festival was an artist. The word lyric (from lyrikos, 'of the lyre') reflects the amateur, personal tradition.

The lyre disappeared from European music during the early Middle Ages, replaced by the harp, the psaltery, and eventually bowed instruments. The instrument died, but the word lived on in 'lyric' (a poem sung to lyre accompaniment, hence any short personal poem), 'lyrics' (the words of a song), and 'lyrical' (having the quality of song). The lyre's vocabulary outlasted the lyre by a millennium.

Variations of the lyre survived in East Africa. The Ethiopian krar and the Kenyan nyatiti are lyre-type instruments still played today. The Greek lyra has modern relatives, though most Western musicians do not know it. The instrument that defined Western musical culture for a thousand years is now more alive in Ethiopia than in Europe.