flute

\ \ [14] Provençal flaut was probably the original source of flute, and it reached English via Old French floute or floite. Where flaut came from, however, is another matter, and a much disputed one. Some etymologists claim that it is ultimately simply an imitation of a high-pitched sound, its initial consonant cluster perhaps provided by Provençal flajol ‘small flute or whistle’ (source of English flageolet [17], but itself of unknown origin) and Latin flāre ‘blow’; others suggest a specific blend of flajol with Provençal laut, source of English lute. The sense ‘groove’ developed in English in the 17th century, from a comparison with the long thin shape of the instrument.

\ \ Related forms in English include flautist [19], whose immediate source, Italian flautisto, preserves the au diphthong of the Provençal source word flaut (American English prefers the older, native English formation flutist [17]); and perhaps flout [16], which may come from Dutch fluiten ‘play the flute’, hence ‘whistle at, mock’.

\ \ Cf.⇒ FLOUT