cor anglais

Meanings

1. A double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family that is pitched in F, one-fifth lower than the oboe and is consequently approximately one-third longer than the oboe.

Etymology

Borrowed from French cor anglais (literally “English horn”), calqued from a misunderstanding of Middle High German engellisches horn (“angelic horn”), from the resemblance of the instrument to horns played by angels as depicted in the Middle Ages.