guqin

See also: gǔqín

English

An antique guqin in the lianzhu form

Alternative forms

• (NB: these variants may be incorrect, but nevertheless may be encountered)
  • gu-qin, gu qin, gu qing, GuQin

Etymology

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 古琴 (gǔqín), made up of 古 (gǔ, “ancient”) and 琴 (qín, “stringed instrument”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡuːˈt͡ʃiːn/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːn

Noun

guqin (plural guqin or guqins)

1. A plucked zither-like stringed instrument (chordophone), traditionally featuring seven unfretted strings, originating in ancient China.
   • 1982 May 25, The Times, p.10 col. C:

     Among those who will be making the Otter valley resound to the strains of the guzheng and erhu is Wu Wenguang, who plays a piece of music 1,800 years old on the guqin, an instrument known to have existed 3,000 years ago.

   • [2006 September 22, Noah Buchan, “A Moving Sound gathers monentum”, in Taipei Times‎^[1], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 25 December 2007, Features, page 13‎^[2]:

     The kuchin is one of China’s oldest and most revered stringed instruments; its meditative character serves as a symbol of the CD’s inspiration.]

Usage notes

• In the past, the guqin was referred to only as the qin, but it has the prefix gu- to distinguish it from other instruments which are also called qin. It can be referred to as qin after guqin is used in the first instance.
• The organology of the qin fits that of a zither, but in the past, it has been incorrectly referred to as a lute or harp.
• It is sometimes confused with the guzheng (古筝) which is a different stringed instrument.

Translations

instrument

• Chinese:

  Hokkien: 琴 (zh-min-nan) (khîm)

  Mandarin: 古琴 (zh) (gǔqín), (in both modern and literary Chinese) 琴 (zh) (qín), 七絃琴 / 七弦琴 (zh) (qīxiánqín)

• Dutch: qin
• French: guqin (fr) m
• German: Qin f
• Japanese: 古琴 (ja) (こきん, kokin)
• Korean: 고금(古琴) (ko) (gogeum), 구친 (guchin)
• Macedonian: гучин m (gučin)
• Marathi: कूचिन (kūcin)
• Russian: гуци́нь (ru) m or f (gucínʹ), цисяньци́нь m or f (cisjanʹcínʹ)
• Spanish: guqin m
• Swedish: guqin
• Thai: กู่ฉิน (gùu-chǐn)
• Vietnamese: cổ cầm (古琴)

See also

• 古琴 (gǔqín) for more readings in CJK
• Appendix:Glossary of chordophones

Further reading

• Zhang, Huaying (2005). Guqin 【古琴】. Guizhou: Zhejiang People's Publishing. →ISBN
• The North American Guqin Association (http://www.guqin.org)
• 2015. The Semantics of Chinese Music: Analysing selected Chinese musical concepts. Adrian Tien. Pg. 181.