Klarinet Archive - Posting 000005.txt from 1996/05

From: mlfl%vax.ox.ac.uk@-----.BITNET
Subj: Re: Clarinets and Chalumeaux
Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 03:58:14 -0400

Perhaps in England the term "chalumeau" still had some of its earlier, broader
significance at this time.
"Chalumeau" was just the French equivalent of "shawm" or "Schalmey" - sometimes
in England it was adopted (and adapted) and spelled "shalamo". It would be
interesting to
know just when (and where) it became specifically attached to a small
single-reed instrument. On phonological grounds, "chalumeau" was probably the
source of the other words - at a period when Old French "ch" was already
pronounced like English "sh". There is an Italian term "ciaramella" which is
presumably *not* from "chalumeau".
Roger Shilcock