Mus. [Better clavicitherium, med.L., f. clāvis key + CITHER.] An early musical instrument of the harpsichord type, being really an upright spinet.
[1511. Virdung, Musica getutscht (Basel), Claviciterium.
1611. M. Prætorius, Syntagm. Music. (Wolfenbüttel), II. xli. Clavicytherium.]
1819. Pantologia, III. Clavicytherum, the clavichord.
1860. Rimbault, Pianoforte, 28. The clavicytherium, or keyed-cithara.
1879. A. J. Hipkins, in Grove, Dict. Mus., Clavicytherium, an upright musical instrument allied to the horizontal harpsichord and spinet. Ibid. (1888), Mus. Inst., Plate vi. Named Clavicytherium by the earliest writer on musical instruments, Virdung … who gives a drawing of one. It is in fact a spinet set upright.
