Curtal

Curtal obs. Engl. woodwind instr., precursor of the bassoon, equivalent during the 16th and 17th c. of the Fr. basson or fagot, the Ger. Dulzian or Fagott, the It. fagotto and the Sp. bajón (but not identical with the courtaut, from which it derived its name, nor with the cognate Kortholt). The word was in use from the 16th c. to the mid-18th. Usually the curtal was made of a single block of wood with 2 parallel conical channels bored up and down it, connected at the lower end, but occasionally…