An archaic or variant spelling of bassoon, the large double-reed woodwind instrument that produces low tones.
An older form of 'bassoon,' which evolved from French 'basson,' derived from Italian 'bassone' (augmentative of 'basso,' meaning a large bass).
Historical spelling variations like 'basson' show English was still standardizing musical terminology in the 1600s-1700s—different composers wrote it different ways until printers and dictionaries imposed 'bassoon' as standard.
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