Būq

Būq pl. būqāt or abwāq [?Gk. bukane or ?Lat. *buccina], generic term for horns and trumpets of the Arabs and Persians, and specific term for one with a conical bore. Originally a *natural horn, the būq was subsequently made of metal. By the 10th c. one form had reached very considerable proportions—up to 1.80 m. (6 ft.) in length—and was in use in Islamic armies. According to Farmer, a far shorter form was converted into a shawm in the same century by the Andalusian Caliph Al-Hakam II, by the…