Walloon
November 14, 2000, 7:12am
1
The Oxford English Dictionary has been no help for me on this. Why is the musical instrument known as the “recorder” called that? It’s a simple, reedless woodwind, played with fingerholes. What in heaven’s name does it record?
*Originally posted by Walloon *
Here’s a LONG article about this history of recorders. I didn’t feel like reading the ENTIRE thing, but it may help you in your answer:
http://members.iinet.net.au/~nickl/torture2.html
Walloon
November 14, 2000, 8:20am
3
That is a lot of information about the history of the recorder, and I thank you for it. But unfortunately, no explanation at all about the name.
Well, according to http://members.iinet.net.au/~nickl/medieval.html#literary :
It has long been suggested that the earliest reference to the recorder is provided by the household accounts of the Earl of Derby (later King Henry IV) for 1388 which mention i. fistula in nomine Ricordo, a flute called a Ricordo. Trowell (1957) remarks that ricordo is Italian for a “remembrance, souvenir, keepsake, memento, sign of friend-ship, token”, derived from the Latin recordari (to remember), and notes further that during the Middle Ages, the gift of a musical instrument was a recognised custom of civility and a means to obtaining a reward, and indeed an excellent ‘memento’ of favours received or expected. Although the Italian origin of ricordo itself has been questioned (Bornstein 1987: 45-56; Griscom & Lasocki 1994: 19), Higbee (1965: 128) supports Trowell’s derivation of ‘recorder’ from a form of the Latin recordari. Wright (1965: 341) suggests an origin from the English ‘to record’, meaning to memorise, to recall, to practice and to recite, to sing or to play and thus the Earl of Derby’s ricordo may represent no more than an attempt to render a pre-existing English word ‘recorder’ in a Latin document.
So it looks like they aren’t quite sure.