The Sackbut is a musical instrument, a precursor of the trombone in that it contained a hairpin-shaped bent tube which was slid in and out to vary the tone, may have derived its name from the Old Norman French saqueboute, a lance with a curved hook at the end, which was used to pull riders from their horses.
The further etymology of sackbut may remind our contemporaries of the pushmi-pullyu, that mythical animal found in Hugh Lofting’s tales of Doctor Dolittle which had a head at either end, for it is based on the fusion of saquier, “to pull,” and bouter, “to push.”
