Obviously I play the flute..No mystery there. I've played since I was 12. I'm a flute player that calls herself a flutist, and when I speak to other flutists, they don't even blink at the word. I find it funny that the only time I receive corrections on this word are from folks who don't play the flute. LOL! It makes me chuckle, but I can totally understand the confusion out there, since there are so many musical terms that we use from other foreign languages, especially Italian, which is where the word "flautista" comes from. In the words of my most favorite flutist that I have been listening to since I was 12 and who I consider to be the authority on the matter..."I am a flute player, not a flautist. I don't have a flaut, and I've never flauted." (Sir James Galway)
You will see and hear both ways, due to the fact that the British still refer to a flute player as a flautist (Italian root with an English suffix), just as they also have other spellings/pronunciations for many, many other English words. But since I'm from America, I will stick with the American English terminology...FLUTIST...just as I refer to "measures" in a piece of music and not "bars."
If you'd like to learn more about this, here's an interesting article about it, written by a famous flutist:
http://www.fenwicksmith.com/miscellany_flautist.html
I love studying this sort of stuff. It intrigues me. Linguistics was one of my favorite classes in college. Didn't know that about me, did ya? (I see you all rolling your eyes! LOL!)
2 comments:
I'm totally calling you when I am sturggling with pronouncing these crazy Egyptian words. :) Which means you'll be hearing my voice every single day. :)
hehe, in Spanish, we also say flautista. Tu eres una flautista muy interesante!
It makes total sense to me in
Spanish to say flauta for flute, and then flautista for flute player.
So it makes even more sense for me to say that since you play the flute, you are a flutist. ;)
I totally get it..
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