sourdinen.adj.
/sʊəˈdiːn/ Somewhat rare.
A. n.
a. Early Music. A muted trumpet.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > wind instrument > brass instruments > [noun] > trumpet > types of
lilting-hornc1384
claranerc1410
clarinec1440
trumpet1440
sordine1591
sordine trumpet1616
clarion1621
alchemy1667
sourdinea1678
jubil-trumpet1715
lituus1776
sea-trumpet1776
penny trumpet1783
salpinx1865
principal1876
valve trumpet1877
tuba1882
kakaki1932
zugtrompete1978
vuvuzela2003
a1678 A. Marvell Upon Appleton House in Misc. Poems (1681) 90 Death-Trumpets creak in such a Note, And 'tis the Sourdine in their Throat.
1891 C. R. Day Descriptive Catal. Musical Instruments Royal Mil. Exhib., London, 1890 v. 96 The combination of a double reed with a cylindrical bore..presents certain theoretical difficulties... During the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries instruments thus constructed were in common use. Those most generally met with were the krumhorn..and the sourdine.
1941 N. Bessaraboff Anc. European Mus. Instr. 80 There were several families of instruments, such as the cromornes, the racketts (‘the sausage bassoons’), the sourdines.
1976 D. Munrow Instruments Middle Ages & Renaissance vi. 45/3 The tone is much softer and more muffled, however, and very similar to that of a rackett; hence the other name given to the instrument..sourdine (French).
b. A mute or damper.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > wind instrument > brass instruments > [noun] > mute for
sordine1591
sourdet1611
sourdine?1779
mute1841
wah-wah mute1925
straight mute1926
plunger1934
plunger mute1935
cup mute1955
harmon mute1955
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > stringed instruments > bowable instrument > [noun] > mute
sourdine?1779
mute1786
sordine1789
chin-mute1875
?1779 W. Waring tr. J.-J. Rousseau Compl. Dict. Music 384 Sourdine, a small instrument of copper or silver, which is applied to the bridge of a violin or violincello, to render the sounds weaker.
1959 Collins Mus. Encycl. 618/2 Sourdine... (1) Mute (of a string or wind instrument). (2) Damper (in the piano). (3) A device for muting the strings of the piano.
B. adj.
Muffled, subdued. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > non-resonance > [adjective] > deadening > deadened
deaf1612
deadened1720
smothered1810
dully1832
muffled1837
muted1860
sordine1894
sourdine1898
1898 N.Y. Times 2 July The art of making a commonplace event striking by telling it in hints, as in the sourdine little tragedy of ‘A Modern Melodrama’.
1904 Windsor Mag. Dec. 166/2 A singular little tune, half sourdine, half pizzicato.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1913; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.adj.a1678