page_title: Gusli
section_title: Etymology
hierarchical_section_title: Gusli / Etymology
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Гусляры. 1899 Дерево, масло. 34,3×44. Пермская государственная художественная галереяEnglish: Guslars
context_page_description: Gusli is the oldest East Slavic multi-string plucked instrument, belonging to the zither family, due to its strings being parallel to its resonance board. Its roots lie in Veliky Novgorod in Novgorodian Rus'. It may have a connection to the Byzantine form of the Greek kythare, which in turn derived from the ancient lyre, or might have been imported from Western and Central Europe during the Middle Ages, when the zither had immense popularity. It has its relatives in Europe and throughout the world: kantele in Finland, kannel in Estonia, kanklės in Lithuania, kokles in Latvia, Zitter in Germany, citera in Czechia, psalterium in France and so on... Furthermore, the kanun has been found in Arabic countries, and the autoharp, in the United States. It is also related to such ancient instruments as Chinese gu zheng, which has a thousand-year history, and its Japanese relative koto. A stringed musical instrument called guslim is listed as one of the Me in ancient Sumer.
context_section_description: In the times of Kievan Rus', the term Gusli is thought to simply refer to any generic stringed instrument. The root of the term comes from the word to make sound in the wind. The term was eventually associated with the trapezoidal Gusli-psaltyry (which may have originated in Byzantium).
caption: "Gusli musicians" by Viktor Vasnetsov, 1899
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