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A reader asks about the most appropriate word to use when referring to a person who plays the flute.
I write on musical matters, so would appreciate advice on how to write flutist…Many presenters of classical music programmes pronounce the word as “floortist”. Is flutist correct & is is there another written form?
I can’t comment on the pronunciation “floortist” other than to say that I’ve never heard flutist or flautist pronounced in that way.
The three most common terms I’m familiar with are:
flutist [(flū'tĭst)]
flautist [flô'tĭst, flou'-]
flute player
I’ve read that flautist is the preferred British usage. To American ears it sounds pretentious, but ironically, the earliest use of flautist given in the OED is from the work of an American writer, Nathaniel Hawthorne.
The Italian word for flute is flauto and the 1860 novel in which the word appears, The Marble Faun, is set in Italy. The choice flautist over flutist may have been prompted by Hawthorne’s desire to add local color.
My Middle English dictionary gives floute and floutour for “flute” and “flute player.” My edition of Chaucer gives flowte and floyte for “flute,” flowtour for “flute player,” and floytynge for “playing on the flute.”
I’ve played in a flute choir. We called ourselves flutists and flute players.
According to a factoid at NationMaster.com, world-renowned flute virtuoso Sir James Galway has this to say on the matter:
I am a flute player, not a flautist. I don’t have a flaut, and I’ve never flauted.”
Thanks to Richard Shackleton for post idea.
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Well, in Spanish and Italian we still say flauta, and in Old French it was also flaute. English and other Germanic languages adopted the term at around that time, as well as the derived flautista/flautiste. The term flutist came to English much later, probably again influenced by the French flutist after the old form flaute changed to floute.
In modern English the terms developed to flute and both flautist and flutist, although the second one is much ‘younger’.
By ‘floortist’ your reader can’t, surely, have meant the ‘r’ to be sounded. As a Brit – heavens, i say that a lot here! – i pronounce floor exactly the same as flaw.
And i’ve only ever heard flautist pronounced ‘flawtist’.
AND i’ve never, ever come across flutist. Well, maybe once, and i’d have dismissed it as ignorance. Sorry, USA!
My New Penguin qualifies flutist as ‘chiefly NAm and refers me to flautist. My Collins English calls it a variant spelling, ‘Now chiefly U.S.’. That ‘now’ tells me flutist used to be a more equal alternative over here.
Good ol’ Noah Webster and his simplifying.
(Both my dictionaries, btw, give only the ‘flaw’ (unflawed, lol) pronunciation for flautist.)
I love happening upon a divergence between UK and US English that i haven’t found before. Thanx! 80)
I thought a Flautist was someone like me who loves to eat Flautas! Yum
As a ‘flautist’ myself, I’ve always wondered what I should tell people to call me. My uncle has said ‘flautist’, but all my friends go “what’s that?” My band director has said ‘flutist’, and so have most of my other instructors.
I usually say flautist because flutist sounds weird to me. I think it all comes down to personal preference.
And anyway, in band, usually you refer to people merely by their instrument: “Hey, flutes, you’re about five yards away from where you need to be.” ^.^
I believe Brian Griffin says ‘flautist.’
He’s reference enough for me…
As another Brit, I would like to fully agree with mand!
Over here it is mainly “flautist” very occasionally “flute player” but NEVER, EVER, “flutist”
One could almost be ostracised from polite society for using such an expression!
Mand,
Your comment reminded me of an occasion when I was teaching in junior high. A parent complained to me about another teacher who had given her child a spelling test and marked a word incorrect that the parent felt should have been given credit.
The child had written “flow.”
The teacher insisted that she’d dictated the word “floor.”
As a flute player, I’ve always said that any gig that pays over $50 makes me a flautist — below that, a flutist.
… though surely the context would have made it obvious which it should be?
You’d think so. My procedure for giving a spelling test is to say the word, use it in a sentence, and say the word again. I was told that the teacher in question merely said the word without providing context.
Good old Douglas Harper http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=flute . I had been thinking flute came from something to do with flow, but it seems it’s from blow – though (i can’t stop n look it up now) i wouldn’t be surprised if flow and blow are related.
Lorrie, lol but what are Flautas?
And Suzanne, we wouldn’t dream of saying British English is posher? … Would we? … ;0)