The current names for the Basque flute are txistu and txirola. These are the most common ones. Let us not forget that this same word also means whistle and saliva. Txistua bota = to spit; txistueta = warbling; txistuki = a branch used to make whistles; txistu-belar = wild oats; txiru-liru = light-headed and an onomatopoeia for birdsong; etc. Father Donostia mentions the word flaiola (flabiol) in a folk song; this is not known in everyday language and does not appear in the dictionaries of Azkue and Father Lhande. It is surprising that the word txistulari, so commonly used today to refer to a tambourine player, was not used in documents of relative antiquity, from the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. The terms used are always jular, juglar, tamborilero, tamboritero... Iztueta uses the word chilibitua for the txistu, and danboliñ for the drummer. It is worth noting that in Burgos, the piper who accompanies the giant figures is called a chirola. [F. Olmeda, Cancionero popular de Burgos, 1903, p. 157].
To denote the Basque flute, we find in recent times the term ‘tibia vasca’. This is found in the Diccionario Geográfico-Histórico de España (p. 326), Iztueta (1842:2) and some modern writers. We believe there is an error in this term, applying the Latin adjective ‘vasca’ as if it belonged to a people, when its meaning is ‘light, hollow’. A. Oihenart, in his Notitia utriusque Vasconiae (1638, 34–35), speaks of the Basque flute, and says:
"It seems that the term ‘Vascan flute’ was used to denote a type of flute specific to them (for the Latin ‘Vascus’ is correctly formed from the indigenous term ‘Vasco’, as we shall explain elsewhere). This term occurs in Julius Solinus, chapter 5 of Servius’ commentary on Book XI of the Aeneid, and in the author of the ancient Latin-Greek Glossary, who translates it as ‘meletikon aulon’; perhaps because its mastery lies not so much in art as in assiduous practice: (though there are those who deem it proper to write ‘meliko’ there) for it has but three holes, through which any sound or type of melody may be rendered distinctly and harmoniously by those skilled in its art. As for why Servius calls this same instrument a ‘plagiaulon’, I can offer no other explanation than that, unlike other flutes which are held either upright or across the body, this one stands at an angle in the hand of the player, a fact confirmed even today by the current use of the flute, which is most prevalent among the Basques, for they use almost no other instrument in their dances and leaping; yet the most learned Salmasius holds a different view regarding the explanation of the Vascan flute, as noted by him in Flavius Vopiscus and in Pliny, in the commentary on chapter 5 of Solinus, and I dare not contradict the authority of such a great man.”
Although Silio Italico already uses the word vascus to denote an inhabitant or native of Vasconia, nevertheless, this word means: ‘empty, unoccupied (in the sense of hollow), weightless, light’. Forcellini says: ‘Vascus, Vascus est vacuus, inanis, levis’ (Totius Latinitatis Lexicon, 1875). Regarding the subject at hand, he says:
“Vasca tibia, if we are to believe Salmasius in his notes on Vopiscus Carinus 19, is that which is called meletetikos aulos in the Gloss. Philo; that is to say, a certain kind of curved and oblique flute producing a lighter and sharper sound, which flute players were accustomed to learn and practise the art of playing: from the hollow sound it produced. Solin, 5: ‘In the middle of the island, the reeds are abundant, which are most suitable for all kinds of flute sounds, whether you make transverse flutes, which are placed at the foot of the singing platform, or vascas, which precede the transverse flutes in number of holes’; that is, transverse, twisted flutes. Hence Serv. on that passage in Virgil, Aeneid II, 737: ‘But Bacchi, because in ancient times there were no theatrical performances except in honour of Liber, the Father. The Greeks call this flute a plagiaulon, the Latins a vascam tibiam, and it is most commonly used in the Dionysia: the Satyrs use it.’ See Plagiaulus. Note. It is appropriate to append here the explanations from the ancient glossaries. Gloss in Mai., loc. cit., vol. 7, p. 585. Vascum, empty or frivolous. And vol. 8, p. 623. Vascus, empty. And p. 621. Vascus, frivolous, frivolous, trifling, idle, vain-talking. In the Gloss, St. Genovese writes ucavum, or wascum." (Pages 252–253.)
We find Solinus quoted. His text is transcribed below:
"For from there emerge figures resembling the faces of men or gods. In hot regions, the island is rich in reeds, which are most suitable for all kinds of pipes, whether you make them into Precentoria, which are placed at the Pulvinaria for singing, or Vascas, which, by their number of holes, precede the Precentoria, or Puellatorias, from which a clearer sound is produced...".
On the same folio, Camercio’s commentary:
“Vascas. Sipontinus reads: Vastas, perhaps so named for their size, or for the multitude of their holes. It should be noted that Tibias are sometimes named after their use, such as precentorias; sometimes after the sound they produce, such as puellarias; sometimes after their shape, such as Vastas; often after the material from which they are made, such as Gingrias and miluinas; sometimes after their place of origin, such as Lydias; and frequently after their function, such as Thura rias...".
In A. Ernout and A. Meillet, under the entry for ‘tibia’, we read:
“1. flute; 2. tibia, the bones of the leg and the leg itself”.
There is something in the Basque language that echoes this, as there are the words belhain = knee and balkhain = txülüla, tibia (flute of the knee) [Dictionnaire étymologique / de la / Langue Latine / Histoire des mots par..., 1939, and P. Lhande, Dictionnaire basque-français, Paris, 1926]. These references seem to indicate, as we have stated above, that the Basque term tibia should not be applied to the folk flute of the Basque Country as if it were something unique to it. To understand it in this way was a misinterpretation by Oihenart, whom those who have more recently ed the claim have probably followed.
The popular Basque term currently used for the instrument is txistu, which means flute and saliva, to spit. All words referring to whistling are derived from it. Txistuki = a branch used to make whistles; xulubita, txulubita = whistle, flute; xilibitu = whistle, high-pitched flute; xistu = spittle, whistle; xistu-belhar = tall-stemmed grass used by children to produce a sound similar to that of a piccolo; xit = a kind of whistle used to attract someone’s attention; ziztu = loud whistle; ziztubelhar = wild oats; lekaxistu = a whistle made by putting one’s fingers in one’s mouth; Txuztu = a whistle that children make with vegetables, etc. Dialectal varieties: uxtü egin = to whistle; uxtü, hustü = whistle; to whistle; xuxtu = whistle, to whistle. In Iparralde, the words txirola, txürüla, txulula are used to refer to the instrument, and the root txi, txu = tchi, tchu always remains. This word appears in S. Pouvreau: txirola = chirola = fluste, fluteau. Although the word chirola is more commonly found in the Basque-French region, it appears in Christmas verses from Biscay (1826), where chirola refers to the flute or txistu. This root also appears as a sound indicator in the word xirularru = skin flute, meaning musette, bagpipe (Galician?); xirulika = roulade, trill, vocal ornament; txiru-liru = light-headedness and onomatopoeia for birdsong; xuxurla = murmur; xirulikan, xirulikatuz = to spin a stick (because of the whirring sound). There are, however, other words that do not derive from this root, and mean, for example, the pipe = ziburrun (a whistle made by boys using plant materials); kopetxa = whistle. The flute played sideways is called zeiar-xirola. This root (txiru) also features in the onomatopoeia used in folk songs to refer to birdsong: txiruliruli... Derivatives of this root include those referring to the folk musician: txistulari, xirolari, txulubitari, txilibitulari, txilibistari, txilibistero, etc., depending on dialectal variations or those of each village. There is another name also used in popular parlance to refer to the minstrel: danbolindari, meaning drummer.