sackbut
noun
Forms sackbuts sacbut sackbutt sagbut shagbolt shakbusshe
- noun (music) A brass instrument from the Renaissance and Baroque Eras, and an ancestor of the modern trombone. It was derived from the medieval slide trumpet.
Etymology
From French sacqueboute, from Middle French sacquer (“to pull”) + bouter (“to push”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A brass wind instrument, like a bass trumpet, so contrived that it can be lengthened or shortened according to the tone required; --said to be the same as the trombone. [Written also sagbut.] Moore (Encyc. of Music).
Etymology [F. saquebute, OF. saqueboute a sackbut. earlier, a sort of hook attached to the end of a lance used by foot soldiers to unhorse cavalrymen; prop. meaning, pull and push; fr. saquier, sachier, to pull, draw (perhaps originally, to put into a bag or take out from a bag; see Sack a bag) + bouter to push (see Butt to thrust). The name was given to the musical instrument from its being lengthened and shortened.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “sackbut”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details