Re: Cavil
I don't know if this can help you, but:
cavil should come from French "caville" or Italian "caviglia"
that's an ANKLE in English.
cavil should come from French "caville" or Italian "caviglia"
that's an ANKLE in English.
--- Inbolger@yahoogroups.com, Bill Howard <billh39@...> wrote:
>
> Item number 39 on the plans for Beach Cat Cruiser is so labeled.
>
> What is this? Looks like a piece of the mast partner???
>
This has come up before. PCB used some wonderful words and expressions.
I believe two different words "kevel", and "cavil", although spelt differently, one possessing at a stretch in a vague sense the meaning of the other, must have been conflated aboard anglophone tall ships over the last several centuries. The words may have been mispronounced the same often enough that use crossed over in one direction due to the confusion of hearing and perception, and the confounding creep from strict definitions.
My battered "The Standard English Desk Dictionary" (1976) doesn't provide a little drawing for this :-( but says:
cavil v.i. Raise captious objection. ~n. Captious or quibbling objection; cavilling.
kevel n. (naut) Peg or cleat usu. one of pair, to which certain ropes are belayed
You see what I mean there: something raised - but "cavil" really an argumentative, ambiguous, punning, verbal eqivocation made by some nong, and not a cleat for a line on a boat?
My 1988 Macquarie 2nd Ed is clearer still:
cavil^1 v., -illed, -illing or (US) -iled,-iling, n. -v.i. 1. to raise irritating and trivial objections; find fault uneccesssarily. -n. 2. a trivial and annoying objection. 3. the raising of such objections [F caviller, from L cavillari, from cavilla a jeering] -caviller; U.S., caviler, n.
cavil^2 Mining. -n. 1. the periodical allotment of jobs by lot undertaken to ensure equitable sharing of difficult or dangerous tasks. -v.t. 2. cavil out (or "cavil-out") to retrench. [OE cavel lot, ? from ON kefli piece of wood]
kevel n. a sturdy bit, bollard, etc, on which the heavier hawsers of a ship may be secured. [ME kevile, from ONF keville pin, from L clavicula little key]
From our friends at Project Gutenberg even clearer meanings, their roots washed well and long at sea of foreign lubberly origins, cleansed of etymology, dispensed authoritatively from the heights of the most august and mighty imperial institution are to be found in:
THE
SAILOR'S WORD-BOOK:
AN ALPHABETICAL DIGEST OF NAUTICAL TERMS, INCLUDING SOME MORE ESPECIALLY MILITARY AND SCIENTIFIC, BUT USEFUL TO SEAMEN; AS WELL AS ARCHAISMS OF EARLY VOYAGERS, ETC.
BY THE LATE
ADMIRAL W. H. SMYTH,
K.S.F., D.C.L., &c.
REVISED FOR THE PRESS BY
VICE-ADMIRAL SIR E. BELCHER,
K.C.B., &c. &c.
LONDON:
BLACKIE AND SON, PATERNOSTER ROW;
AND GLASGOW AND EDINBURGH.
1867.
CAVIL. A large cleat for belaying the fore and main tacks, sheets, and braces to. (See Kevels.)
KEVEL-HEADS. The ends of the top timbers, which, rising above the gunwale, serve to belay the ropes, or to be used as kevels.
KEVELING. A coast name for the skate.
KEVELS, or Cavils. Large cleats, or also pieces of oak passing through a mortice in the rail, and answer the purpose of timber-heads for belaying ropes to.
Get this authoritative nautical tome so useful to boaties saved to your files fromhttp://www.gutenberg.org/files/26000/26000-h/26000-h.htm#A1or in other format that suitshttp://www.gutenberg.org/files/26000/
So,,, what's an offshore "skate" then? ;-)
I believe two different words "kevel", and "cavil", although spelt differently, one possessing at a stretch in a vague sense the meaning of the other, must have been conflated aboard anglophone tall ships over the last several centuries. The words may have been mispronounced the same often enough that use crossed over in one direction due to the confusion of hearing and perception, and the confounding creep from strict definitions.
My battered "The Standard English Desk Dictionary" (1976) doesn't provide a little drawing for this :-( but says:
cavil v.i. Raise captious objection. ~n. Captious or quibbling objection; cavilling.
kevel n. (naut) Peg or cleat usu. one of pair, to which certain ropes are belayed
You see what I mean there: something raised - but "cavil" really an argumentative, ambiguous, punning, verbal eqivocation made by some nong, and not a cleat for a line on a boat?
My 1988 Macquarie 2nd Ed is clearer still:
cavil^1 v., -illed, -illing or (US) -iled,-iling, n. -v.i. 1. to raise irritating and trivial objections; find fault uneccesssarily. -n. 2. a trivial and annoying objection. 3. the raising of such objections [F caviller, from L cavillari, from cavilla a jeering] -caviller; U.S., caviler, n.
cavil^2 Mining. -n. 1. the periodical allotment of jobs by lot undertaken to ensure equitable sharing of difficult or dangerous tasks. -v.t. 2. cavil out (or "cavil-out") to retrench. [OE cavel lot, ? from ON kefli piece of wood]
kevel n. a sturdy bit, bollard, etc, on which the heavier hawsers of a ship may be secured. [ME kevile, from ONF keville pin, from L clavicula little key]
From our friends at Project Gutenberg even clearer meanings, their roots washed well and long at sea of foreign lubberly origins, cleansed of etymology, dispensed authoritatively from the heights of the most august and mighty imperial institution are to be found in:
THE
SAILOR'S WORD-BOOK:
AN ALPHABETICAL DIGEST OF NAUTICAL TERMS, INCLUDING SOME MORE ESPECIALLY MILITARY AND SCIENTIFIC, BUT USEFUL TO SEAMEN; AS WELL AS ARCHAISMS OF EARLY VOYAGERS, ETC.
BY THE LATE
ADMIRAL W. H. SMYTH,
K.S.F., D.C.L., &c.
REVISED FOR THE PRESS BY
VICE-ADMIRAL SIR E. BELCHER,
K.C.B., &c. &c.
LONDON:
BLACKIE AND SON, PATERNOSTER ROW;
AND GLASGOW AND EDINBURGH.
1867.
CAVIL. A large cleat for belaying the fore and main tacks, sheets, and braces to. (See Kevels.)
KEVEL-HEADS. The ends of the top timbers, which, rising above the gunwale, serve to belay the ropes, or to be used as kevels.
KEVELING. A coast name for the skate.
KEVELS, or Cavils. Large cleats, or also pieces of oak passing through a mortice in the rail, and answer the purpose of timber-heads for belaying ropes to.
Get this authoritative nautical tome so useful to boaties saved to your files fromhttp://www.gutenberg.org/files/26000/26000-h/26000-h.htm#A1or in other format that suitshttp://www.gutenberg.org/files/26000/
So,,, what's an offshore "skate" then? ;-)
--- Inbolger@yahoogroups.com, Bill Howard <billh39@...> wrote:
>
> Item number 39 on the plans for Beach Cat Cruiser is so labeled.
>
> What is this? Looks like a piece of the mast partner???
>
Item number 39 on the plans for Beach Cat Cruiser is so labeled.
What is this? Looks like a piece of the mast partner???
What is this? Looks like a piece of the mast partner???