flute

Flute comes from Middle English fleute or floute, from Old French flaute or fleüte, from Old Provençal flaüt, whose origin is uncertain. It may be a blend of flaujol ("flageolet") and laüt ("lute"), or trace back to Latin flātus ("blowing"), from flāre ("to blow"), or simply be imitative of sound.

The facts here don't trace a clear shift in meaning — the word seems to have referred to the wind instrument from its earliest recorded forms onward.

Flute is a doublet of flauta and fluyt, and can be compared to French flûte (possibly meaning "a transport") and Dutch fluit.