A sackbut was a type of unconventional trombone that was popular from the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries. The person who plays the sackbut is known as a sackbuttist. Contrary to what the name might suggest, it has nothing to do with sacks or butts. The term originated in English around 1500 from the French word saqueboute, which originally referred to a medieval weapon used to dismount soldiers by hooking them and pulling them off their horses. The visual resemblance between the musical instrument and the weapon led to the adoption of the name. The French words saquier, meaning “pull” or “draw,” and bouter, meaning “to thrust,” are the roots of the term. The origins of these French words are somewhat obscure. According to Google NGrams, the literary use of sackbut peaked in the 1610s and has been on a decline since then.
