shawm

noun

Etymology: From Middle English shalmuse, from Old French chalemel (modern French chalumeau), from Late Latin calamellus, from Latin calamus (“reed”), from Ancient Greek κάλαμος (kálamos). Doublet of caramel, chalumeau, and qalam, as well as related to calame, calamus, culm, and haulm.

1. A mediaeval double-reed wind instrument with a conical wooden body.

   “And all the field is thick with companies Of fair-clothed men that play on shawms and lutes And gather honey of the yellow fruits Between the branches waxen soft and wide”

   “There are four flutes, a harp of twenty strings, a mournful shawm, and a number of drums of oxhide, some to be struck, others spanked.”