Etymology

sistrum

S1I1S1T1R1U1M3

Today it means: An ancient Egyptian musical instrument, to be shaken, consisting of a metal frame holding percussive metal beads. Full definition →

Latin sīstrum ← Ancient Greek σεῖστρον
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Ancient Greek · derived fromσεῖστρον
  2. Latin · borrowed fromsīstrum
  3. English todaysistrum

Borrowed from Latin sīstrum, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek σεῖστρον (seîstron), from σείω (seíō, “shake”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.