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Bagpipe(s)

Bagpipe: any type (even if foreign to the local tradition)

Cornemuse; Dudelsack; Cornamusa.

Identical types: 35

A musical instrument consisting of an air reservoir, a device to inflate it, either by mouth (blowpipe) or mechanically (bellows), and one or more sounding pipes; If the bagpipe doesn’t occur in the local musical tradition(s) of a country, I’ve searched for the generic term for some instrument in its language; NB¹: There seems to be general confusion whether to use the singular or plural form of the English term (the latter of which is in fact a plurale tantum). Francis W. Galpin once stated, however, that "… for although we now speak of Bagpipes in the plural, the old form of the word was in the singular until additional tubes were added". [NB²: Note Galpin's tautology!]. Be that as it may, I prefer to use the singular form, because to me it sounds odd to say (or write about) "a bagpipes"...; NB³: In »The Edinburgh encyclopædia«, conducted by David Brewster, Volume III (Edinburgh, M.DCCC.XXX [1830]), the bagpipe is described as “an extremely defective and imperfect instrument in all its different kinds, of which there are four… [sic]”.

Bagpip, Shepherd’s pipe


Sources

Galpin, Francis William: Old English instruments of music: their history and character. London, s.a. [1910], p.175 (Bagpipe vs Bagpipes).

Mahillon, Victor-Charles: Catalogue descriptif et analytique du Musée instrumental du Conservatoire royal de Musique, I-V. Gand, 1893-1912, p.52.

ws (linguistics [➺ Dictionaries, &c.]).

Web

Archive org. (Mahillon [Find bagpipe; NB:➺ index, p.513: bag-pipe [sic]]).
Google books (Brewster [Find bagpipe: ➺ p.195-196]).
ibidem (Mahillon [Find bagpipe]).
Wikipedia (Text almost entirely identical to that of Brewster).