catgut

catgut. noun. cat·​gut -ˌgət. : a tough cord made usually from sheep intestines and used especially for sutures in closing wounds.

The word catgut is derived from the term kitgut or kitstring (the string used on a kit, or fiddle). Misinterpretation of the word kit as referring to a young cat may have led to the use of the term catgut. Perhaps another possible explanation of the name is the combination of the words cattle and gut.

More likely theories propose that the moniker is an abbreviation of the word “cattlegut”; a play on the word “kit-gut” - “kit” was an early 16th-century English word for “fiddle”; or a reference to Catagniny, a city in Germany where demand for strings was high.

Historically, catgut was the most common material for the strings of harps, lutes, violins, violas, cellos, double basses, acoustic guitars, and other stringed musical instruments, as well as the heads of older marching snare drums.

With a sharply curved needle and catgut, he closed the wound by continuous suture, overcoming great difficulty caused by the heart pulsations.

synonyms: Tephrosia virginiana, goat's rue, wild sweet pea. type of: hoary pea. a plant of the genus Tephrosia having pinnate leaves and white or purplish flowers and flat hairy pods.

Though this method produces what are called catgut strings, cat intestines were never actually used. Most catgut strings were actually fashioned from sheep or cow intestines. Nowadays, most violin strings are made with steel or synthetic materials.

Catgut strings are prized by many professional violinists, violists, cellists, and bassists for their warm, supple tone. Nowadays, these strings are commonly wound with various kinds of metal (usually tungsten, silver, or steel), but a brave few prefer the tone of bare gut.

Nowadays, most violin strings are made with steel or synthetic materials. Authentic gut strings are still used by some advanced professional violin players, including those who specialize in historical performance, but they are not the norm for the average violinist.

Catgut strings are prized by many professional violinists, violists, cellists, and bassists for their warm, supple tone. Nowadays, these strings are commonly wound with various kinds of metal (usually tungsten, silver, or steel), but a brave few prefer the tone of bare gut.

The advantages of catgut as a suture material are as follows: 1, The fundamental advantage of catgut is its absorbability. 2, Catgut has excellent tensile strength. 3, Sterility, when catgut is taken from a sealed tube, is assured. 4, Hardened, or 'chromed,' catgut is preferable to the 'plain' variety.

From Middle English gut, gutte, gotte, from Old English gutt (usually in plural guttas (“guts, entrails”)), from Proto-Germanic *gut-, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰewd- (“to pour”).