zither banjo, n.

zither-banjo
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zither-banjo_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2021

# zither banjonoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zither banjo mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zither banjo. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

### Where does the noun zither banjo come from?

Earliest known use

1880s

The earliest known use of the noun zither banjo is in the 1880s.

OED's earliest evidence for zither banjo is from 1888, in the Observer (London).

### Nearby entries

1. zircon-syenite, n. 1813–
2. zirconyl, n. 1887–
3. zirkelite, n. 1895–
4. zit, n. 1912–
5. zit cream, n. 1968–
6. zitella, n. a1660–
7. zit-face, n. 1974–
8. zit-faced, adj. 1971–
9. zither, n. 1831–
10. zither, v. 1889–
11. zither banjo, n.1888–
12. zithering, adj. 1889–
13. zitherist, n. 1866–
14. zither-like, adj. 1881–
15. ziti, n. 1845–
16. zitty, adj. 1971–
17. Ziv, n. a1382–
18. zizania, n. 1526–
19. zizany, n. a1400–1803
20. zizel, n. 1775–
21. zizypha, n. 1546–1775

## Meaning & use

1. 1888–
   A type of five-stringed banjo with a closed back and a headstock like that of a guitar, the fifth string running through a tube in the neck from the fifth fret to near its tuning peg.
   The zither banjo was invented and introduced to the United Kingdom by the U.S. banjo player Alfred Cammeyer, who played arrangements of pieces for the concert zither on it; it was never adopted in the United States. Six- and seven-stringed variants of the instrument are occasionally found.
   1. 1888

      > He [sc. Alfred D. Cammeyer] played a pizzicato from Sylvia upon what he is pleased to call a zither-banjo, an instrument resembling a banjo in shape with the tone of the zither.

      Observer 21 October 6/2
   2. 2018

      > They played zither banjo, a quieter sounding instrument than the new metallic instruments.

      Western Daily Press (Bristol) (Nexis) 16 October
   music
   1. zither 1831–
      A musical instrument of central European origin, having four or five strings over a fretboard for sounding the melody and thirty to forty…
   2. qin 1839–
      A Chinese seven-stringed zither, played by plucking.
   3. zeze 1860–
      A stringed instrument of eastern and central Africa.
   4. valiha?1866–
      A type of zither, typically tubular and traditionally made from bamboo, regarded as the national instrument of Madagascar.
   5. cither 1871–
      Any of various plucked stringed instruments similar in form to, or believed to have derived from, the cithara; (in later use) esp. a zither.
   6. se 1874–
      A twenty-five-stringed plucked musical instrument, somewhat similar to the zither.
   7. autoharp 1882–
      A type of zither fitted with a series of sprung and padded bars which dampen selected strings when activated, allowing chords to be played easily.
   8. zither banjo 1888–
      A type of five-stringed banjo with a closed back and a headstock like that of a guitar, the fifth string running through a tube in the neck from…
   9. gusli 1893–
      A Russian musical instrument resembling a zither.
   10. langeleik 1907–
       An early Norwegian stringed instrument, resembling the zither.
   11. kantele 1921–
       A form of zither used in Finland and Karelia.
   12. Scheitholt 1961–
       A former stringed instrument of central Europe, a precursor of the zither.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

Originally published as part of the entry for zither, n.

zither, n. was revised in March 2021.