Key terms in the English vocabulary of sailing to windward appear anomalous in dictionaries organized by mainstream English headwords. The Old Norse language, with Anglo-Norse and Anglo-Norman French as linguistic intermediaries, along with early medieval Scandinavian sailing technology are proposed as the source for this important word cluster. The tacking terms of ‘weather’, ‘beat’, ‘tack’ and ‘luff’ are provided with discrete etymologies vis-à-vis mainstream English vocabulary and seen in their historical context enrich our knowledge of the language of the sea through a more accurate identification of lexical sources.
Some English Sailing Terms with Norse Antecedents: Weather side, luff, tack, beat to windward
The Mariner's Mirror ; 102 , 3 ; 262-274
2016-07-02
13 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
weather , luff , tack , beat to windward , Square sail , tacking , luffing , Middle Ages , Scandinavia , etymology
Some English Sailing Terms with Norse Antecedents: Weather side, luff, tack, beat to windward
Online Contents | 2016
|CORRESPONDENCE - The windward sailing capability of Ancient Greek ships
Online Contents | 2005
|Climatological Analysis of Old Norse Sailing Directions for North Atlantic Routes
Online Contents | 2002
|