RECORDER. An instrument of the flute family, now obsolete. Much fruitless ingenuity has been exercised as to the etymology of the name; a specimen of which may be seen in the Pictorial Edition of Shakespeare, on the passage in Hamlet, Act iii, Sc. 2. The English verb ‘to record
’ may be referred to the Latin root Cor. ‘Recordare Jesu pie
’ forms the opening of one of the hymns of the ancient church, embodied in the requiem or funeral mass...
