# What is a flügelschäub? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 14, 2000, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-flugelschaub/45551 "2000-12-14T16:22:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Uniball](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Uniball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniball)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-flugelschaub/45551/1 "2000-12-14T16:22:15Z")
It’s german, and it’s something related to music, but what exactly is that? ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-flugelschaub/45551/2 "2000-12-14T17:37:01Z")
Could you give a bit more of context (is it an instrument? A notation sign? Playing directions?)? Flügel can mean a wing or a feather or fin, etc. (i.e. lots of things), but also means a grand piano, while Schäube is an old Austrian word for something like a sheaf of wheat or a faches. . . ---
**Author:** ![BornDodgy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@BornDodgy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BornDodgy)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-flugelschaub/45551/3 "2000-12-14T17:40:25Z")
_confused_ It couldnt be yiddish or any other language similar to German, right? Damn… this is my native language… I should at least have heared that word… I ll ask the dicitonary… dodgy ---
**Author:** ![BornDodgy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@BornDodgy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BornDodgy)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-flugelschaub/45551/4 "2000-12-14T17:45:10Z")
it is in none of my dictionaries… flügel usually means wing - but related to music it means piano maybe that helps… dodgy again ---
**Author:** ![Fretburner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fretburner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretburner)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-flugelschaub/45551/5 "2000-12-14T17:47:14Z")
There is a trumpet-like instrument called a “flugelhorn.” Could this have something to do with it? ---
**Author:** ![BornDodgy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@BornDodgy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BornDodgy)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-flugelschaub/45551/6 "2000-12-14T17:53:56Z")
you know… this thread will ruin my day… I ll go to the movies in half an hour and I know I ll think about this strange word during the entire film… Schäube is Austrian-German (if we call it that…)?! I am from Austria… how illiterate am I the fuck?! argh… _whines around_ flügel schäube… schraube… haube… horn… bong… ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Moonshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Moonshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonshine)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-flugelschaub/45551/7 "2000-12-14T17:59:30Z")
I have no idea what a Schauebe is, but a Fluegel is either a wing or a grand piano. Are you sure the spelling is right on that? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-flugelschaub/45551/8 "2000-12-14T17:59:42Z")
Does “flugel” mean a piano-the instrument-piano, or “piano” as in “soft” ? I always assumed “flugelhorn” meant a “soft horn”…soft in comparison to the brighter-toned trumpet, which is usually the jazz-playing flugelhornist’s first instrument. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-flugelschaub/45551/9 "2000-12-14T18:01:32Z")
Are you sure you got the spelling right? Flügelschraube means “wing nut”. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that in music, it might refer to the screws used to adjust the string tension on a guitar or similar instrument (are they called tuning pegs?). ---
**Author:** ![BornDodgy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@BornDodgy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BornDodgy)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-flugelschaub/45551/10 "2000-12-14T18:12:51Z")
Flügelschraube makes sense to me… Flügel means piano as in the instrument. dodgy ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-flugelschaub/45551/11 "2000-12-14T18:20:56Z")
From my handy Englisch-Deutsch Wörterbuch: **Flügel** wing (_zool_, _mil_); (_Windmühle_) arm, sail; _mil a._ flank; grand (piano) • _d. ~ hängen lassen_ to hang down one’s head; **~fenster** casement window; **~lahm** with crippled wings; _fig_ despondent; **~mutter** wing-nut; **~roß** winged horse, Pegasus; **~schlag** beat of wings; **~schraube** thumb-screw; **~spanne** spread of wings; **~tür** folding door So, to answer the OP: Flügelschraube = thumb-screw To answer Ukulele Ike: Flügel probably came to mean piano because a grand piano looks like it has wings? (WAG) ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-flugelschaub/45551/12 "2000-12-14T18:24:47Z")
**bibliophage** , I just saw your post (I was busy wrestling with italics and bolds). My dictionary uses _flügelmutter_ for wing-nut. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-flugelschaub/45551/13 "2000-12-14T21:38:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Arnold Winkelried \* > \*\*To answer Ukulele Ike: > Flügel probably came to mean piano because a grand piano looks like it has wings? (WAG) \*\* {blinks} Ol’ pal, you really should get away from the computer more often. Go outside and get some fresh air and exercise and look at pianos. Oh, hell, here’s a piano: [http://www.steinway.com/html/showroom/tricentennial\_main.html](http://www.steinway.com/html/showroom/tricentennial_main.html) All right, show me these “wings” of yours. While you’re looking, I’ll be here tearing my hair out wondering why they named a trumpetlike brass instrument with a conical bore a “piano horn.” ---
**Author:** ![scratch1300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@scratch1300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scratch1300)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-flugelschaub/45551/14 "2000-12-14T22:33:45Z")
I could’ve _sworn_ this was in the Animaniacs’ _Schnitzelbank_: [ul]Ist das nicht ein flugelschaub? Ja, das ist ein flugelschaub.[/ul] But alas, it was not. ---
**Author:** ![Uniball](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Uniball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniball)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-flugelschaub/45551/15 "2000-12-14T23:13:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bibliophage \* > \*\*Are you sure you got the spelling right? Flügelschraube means “wing nut”. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that in music, it might refer to the screws used to adjust the string tension on a guitar or similar instrument (are they called tuning pegs?). \*\* Makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-flugelschaub/45551/16 "2000-12-14T23:31:43Z")
OK Ukulele Ike I expressed myself very poorly. Let’s try this approach: if the lid of a grand piano were shut, and you looked at it from the top, couldn’t someone with imagination say it’s shaped like a wing? ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2000, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-flugelschaub/45551/17 "2000-12-15T00:38:18Z")
Not because it looks like a bird’s wing, but “wing” in the same sense that a triptych altarpiece with movable “wings” (i.e. doors, sort of) is a Flugelaltar. Big flap with hinges kind of generic wing. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2000, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-flugelschaub/45551/18 "2000-12-15T03:01:21Z")
I agree with Arnold; the _grand_ piano (not a spinet) is called _flügel_ because it looks like a wing shape seen from above. The _flügelhorn_ got its name from being used like a bugle in the military. The “wing” (_flügel_) referring to the flank of the formation, where the horn blowers blew their horns.