- Email: [email protected]
Naming behavior and machine parts
ARTICLE IN PRESS
Technology in Society 30 (2008) 202–207 www.elsevier.com/locate/techsoc
Naming behavior and machine parts F. David Mulcahya,, Yu-zhen Liub, Jian Xun Lianga a
Polytechnic University, Brooklyn, NY, USA b TEDA Polytechnic, Tianjin, China
Abstract This is the third of a series of papers in which we investigate how mechanical parts are named. Our data consist of exploded-view parts diagrams. The languages we chose are English, Chinese, Spanish and Portuguese. The machine we study is a Bosch electric drill, which is marketed around the world. The part of interest is #30, which is a small, elongated cylinder-like object that transmits circular movement to the drill bit. All four languages call this part a spindle. A spindle is the earliest textile tool. It consists of a small, round shaft weighted with a disc near one end. It is used to spin, by hand, raw fiber into thread. All simple societies that make cloth use spindles. In previously published research we have pointed out a tendency to describe machine parts with metaphors from the linguistic domain of cloth and clothing. Thus, the use of spindle in this connection is consistent with findings so far. We have noticed two cases of cross-language commonalities. In English and Spanish spindle terms (spindle and huso) have expanded lexically to include the screw-like parts of printing presses, while in English and Chinese spindle terms (spindle and , zhou) have expanded to include axel-like components. Thus, textile mechanical labels expand to mean non-textile machine parts. We also discuss the etymology of brocade from the Spanish broca and the formation of this cloth name from a machine part. Finally, we consider the evolution of the Spanish and Portuguese terms for pump drill, another wide-spread early machine used as a drilling device. r 2008 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Keywords: Naming behavior; Machine parts; Drills; Spindles; Tools
This is the third article in a series, which investigates the role of language and culture in naming the component parts of machines [1,2]. We live in a world full of, if not cluttered with, mechanical things and their number is growing. But how are these machines constituted? What do we call their parts? How did these names come to be? The data we use come from the exploded-view parts diagrams for a Bosch electric drill model #0601140743, which are available form the Company in English, Chinese, Spanish and Portuguese. Exploded-view parts diagrams for almost all machines are available from their manufacturers. When a machine breaks the owner uses these diagrams and an accompanying list of parts to order a new part by number and name. Manufacturers generally make these diagrams available in several important technological languages, thus allowing users to order replacement parts. These diagrams provide a ready source of data for researchers interested in technical naming.
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: [email protected] (F. David Mulcahy). 0160-791X/$ - see front matter r 2008 Published by Elsevier Ltd. doi:10.1016/j.techsoc.2007.12.002
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We consider this research to be very basic—we have no specific hypotheses in mind, but rather we wish to proceed inductively and follow the data to where they lead us. Although our methodology is inductive, we expect in this and future articles to begin to find generalizations in the data. Even at this early stage we have noticed that the lexical domains of cloth and clothing [1,2] and architecture and botany [2] play a role in naming parts of technical devices. Labeled diagrams, which portray the same machine in several languages, provide the cultural-linguistic data that allow analysis on a level of experimental elegance. Thus an identical stimulus—a diagram of the parts of the same machine—elicits ‘similar or different’ responses from a variety of cultural-linguistic systems. We chose our four languages because they are the ones in which we are competent. The part we will study is #30 which is a small, elongated cylinder-like object which transmits circular movement to the drill bit. English The name for this part in English is drilling spindle. The Oxford English Dictionary [3] defines drills as ‘contrivances of many kinds for boring holes in metal, stone, and other hard substances, from a pointed steel tool to an elaborate drilling machine,’ and traces the word to the Dutch (1599) drill, drille and cites drillspindle as an attribute of the English drill. The same source gives the Old English spinel and the Old High German spinela, -ala as etymons for spindle which it defines as ‘a simple instrument employed in spinning by hand, consisting of a slender rounded rod (usually of wood), tapering towards each end, which is made to revolve and twist into thread the fibers drawn out from a bunch of wool, flax, or other material’ (see Fig. 1). Under special combinations regarding spindle, the OED gives ‘spindle-twirl, whirl, -whorl, a whorl used for weighting a spindle.’ Other examples are ‘spindle-whirle’ from a 17th century source and ‘spindle-whorls’ from a 19th century source. Another usage of the term spindle is given as: ‘a rod, usually of iron or other metal, serving as an axis upon which, or by means of which, something revolves or is turned round.’ A gruesome 18th century account is given: ‘An apprenticeybeing under the spindle of a grindstone, that was going by water, had the hair of his head caught by the spindle [3].’ The OED cites, from a 16th century source, the use of spindle to name the screw-like rod used to operate a printing press: ‘Cochela, the vice [sic] or spindle of a press: the winding peece.’ It also notes from 1677 ‘The length of a Worm begins at the spindle of a presse: the winding peece [3].’ The same source provides drill-bow as an attribute of drill. The drill-bow is part of an early device known to anthropologists who study material culture as a bow drill. A rod or shaft is provided with a sharp, hard point at one end and a curved knob at the other end. A capstone with a socket to match the knob is fitted onto the rod and is held in the left band. A small bow is looped around the rod and moved back and forth with the right hand so that the drill point makes a hole in the work (see Fig. 2). The OED states from a 1703 source ‘You must keep your drill-bow straining your string pretty stiff,’ while an 1865 source relates ‘The Dacothas used a drill-bow for the purpose of obtaining fire.’
Fig. 1. Spindle with whorl.
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Fig. 2. Bow drill.
Chinese The Chinese for part #30 is or ‘dian zuan zhu zhou.’ A literal translation would be: ‘electric drill principle axis,’ where zuan is ‘drill; auger [4, p. 940]’ and ‘principle axis’ is ‘main shaft’ or ‘spindle [4, p. 917].’ The HYDZD [5, p. 3520] defines as, inter alia: 1. ‘A spindle, a similar rod or pin used for spinning on a spinning wheel.’ 2. ‘A loom.’ 3. ‘A kind of mechanical accessory, in most instances it refers to a metal rod used to support other turning accessories.’ 4. ‘A numerical classifier used to count things wrapped around a rod.’
Spanish The Spanish for component #30 is husillo de la broca. Husillo is the diminutive of huso or spindle. M. Moliner defines huso as ‘a utensil of wood or iron on which twisted fibers are wound from the distaff; it is a long, rounded object which is tapered towards its ends.’ The same author gives the Latin fusus as its etymon [6, p. 79]. Corominas y Pascual relate that husillo, the diminutive of huso, is a ‘screw employed to lower printing presses and machines of the like [7, p. 435].’ Broca is the common Spanish word for ‘drill bit.’ The word has an extensive history. C&P define broca as follows: ‘the technical name of various pointed objects or objects having a sharp-pointed configuration [7, p. 627(A-CA)]’. They give its first documented use in Spanish in 1350 meaning ‘point,’ in 1432 it was used as a ‘fork,’ in 1611 as ‘button,’ and ‘carrete,’ (a spool, see below). In 1642 it meant ‘shoemaker’s nail,’ and in 1888 ‘drill’ [7, p. 627]. Although C&P cite Latin cognates for broca as does Machado [8, p. 466], they are in favor of a Celtic origin for the word. Cobarruvias in 1611, [9, p. 237] describes broca: ‘Because of its round form we call broca a certain little round object that those who do embroidery use to fasten the cords that they embroider—almost like a spindle and a whorlywe also call cloth rich in gold, brocado because of the broaches and brass nail-heads that it contains [sic].’ For broca the Diccionario de Autoridades in 1726 [10, p. 685] echoes Cobarruvias and gives: ‘a certain little round thing that those who do embroidery use to fasten the cords that they embroider—almost like a spindle and a whorl.’ Here, as in Cobarruvias, the word for whorl appears to be tortera or the ‘wheel (rodaxa) that is put on the end of the spindle which aids in the spinning of fiber [10, p. 307].’ Rodaxa (beside rodaja) also appears to be a pulley motivated by a cord that passes over it [10, p. 629]. The same reference defines the verb urdir as ‘providing the first threads in what will be the cloth [10, p. 397].’ Thus, the word describes the setting up of looms. See also Vela´zquez [11, p. 642]. The DA also comments, under rodaja ‘Among weavers it [rodaja] is understood by the urdidores along with their teeth, caxe´tas, shuttles, armatures and rodajas [10, p. 629].’ Also for broca the DA [10, p. 685] gives: ‘We also call [it] a small iron object which is round like a thimble with which locksmiths, blacksmiths and other artisans make depressions in keys and drill iron and other things: it is attached to the shaft of this instrument.’ The same source also mentions square shoemakers’ nails as a gloss [10, p. 685]. The DA defines brocado or brocade as: ‘Woven cloth with silk, gold or silver or with either one or the other, of which there are several kinds. Of greatest price and value is that which is called tres altos because on its background there is thread of silver, gold or silk twist forming flowers and designs. It is also called broca´to a
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name which it takes from the brocas with which the threads and twisted cords that make it are attached [10, p. 686].’ C&P assert that the Spanish for brocade as well as its Italian cognates come from a Celtic root by way of the Catalan brocat which also appears to be the source of the Spanish broca [7, p. 672]. See also Moliner [6, p. 417]. The reader will recall that C&P writing in 1984 cite carrete as a 17th century meaning of broca. Vela´zquez, writing c. 1850 defines carrete as a ‘spool, bobbin, reel’ and a ‘small reed for winding silk or gold and silver twist [11, p. 129].’ In the same dictionary he defines broca as ‘a reel for twist, silk, or thread [11, p. I, 98].’ Herna´ndez Alonso et al. [12, p. 751] define broca as ‘a part of a loom on which fibers are wound. It is a carrete which is put into the shuttle (see lanzadora, below).’ Portuguese The Portuguese for component 30 is fuso da furadeira. Machado defines fuso as ‘spindle’ from the Latin fusu and the Late Latin fusum [8, p. 106]. The Spanish husillo and huso are cognates. Furadeira is based on % the verb furar ‘to make holes’ [8, p. 104]; see also HC [13, p. 130]. Pump drills There was an early hand-powered technical device that was used in Spain and elsewhere in the world that served as a high-speed drill. The name in Spanish is parahu´so, beside parauso. The Diccionario de la Lengua Espan˜ola of the Spanish Royal Academy [14, p. 1011] defines it as: ‘a manually operated instrument used by locksmiths and other artisans for drilling, and which consists of a cylindrical drill that receives the rotational movement of two cords or thongs which wind and unwind alternatively and raise and lower a cross-piece to which they are tied’ C&P [7, p. 434, 435] devote an article of some length to the word, and address the evolution of its morphology but agree that it is built on the word huso, or spindle. The reader will notice that if the cross-piece and cords are removed from the parahu´so we are left with a device not unlike a spindle and its whorl. Machado [8, p. 301] lists the Portuguese parafuso ‘like the Spanish parahuso [sic].’ We note also that in Portuguese parafuso is the word for (machine) screw [13,2, p. 253]. In English the device is called a pump drill (Fig. 3). In China among the merchants and mechanics of the industrial supply district of Tianjin, ( , Nan Ma Lu) it is called ‘drill’ or ‘wood drill.’ One antique dealer in the same city gave us , wu zuan or ‘support drill.’ This is the same name found for pump drill in the English-Chinese Word Ocean [15, p. 4235]. Google in Chinese lists the same term and notes that a round, moveable iron plate is attached to the device. We interpret this to be a flywheel or whorl. The device was employed until recently in the city by ambulatory
Fig. 3. Pump drill.
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artisans who used it to drill holes in porcelain bowls and dishes so they could be repaired.1 The first author saw such a tool being used in a suburb of Tianjin, China in 1995. While we were interviewing Chinese informants about pump drills they volunteered information about bow drills, saying that they were also used in the city until recently. Discussion From the etymological and the technical—historical data that we review it is clear that we are dealing with a small number of words and simple devices when we delve into the nomenclatural origins of part 30. We are talking about a sharp point, and a rod-like shaft. Add to these a cross-piece, some cords, a weighted disk and a small bow and a capstone with a socket and the list is complete. In various combinations these components can make and have made several tools2: 1. Rod or shaft+whorl ¼ a spindle: a tool for spinning. 2. Rod or shaft+whorl+point+cord+cross-piece ¼ pump drill. 3. Rod or shaft+point+capstone with socket+bow ¼ bow drill. We should consider that in a purely conceptual sense these parts are interchangeable. In addition to these generalizations, we would discuss some specific points: 1. We stress the dominant role of the language domain of textiles as basic material for the origins of component 30. Specifically, this machine part has essentially the same name across our four target languages, this being drill+spindle. The spindle is the earliest textile device. In English, of course, the word for drill is drill. For Chinese, the translation is zuan. For Spanish it is broca while the term in Portuguese is furadeira. But all share spindle. We have seen that among our four languages spindle has been expanded in both English and Spanish to include the screws of early printing presses. Likewise both English and Chinese expand spindle to include axle-like components. These are noteworthy commonalities. Lexical expansion further played a role—Parafuso has expanded in Portuguese to also mean machine screw. We also call attention to how whorl has expanded in its Spanish form rodaxa, rodaja to produce a word for pulley or visa versa. 2. The most interesting of the words for drill is the Spanish broca. It has or has had several meanings over some 650 years. C&P suggest that the shared meaning for the word is that it represents pointed objects. We concur, but note that buttons and spools are not really pointed. The spool, reel, meaning of broca can, however, be associated with pointedness; it can be installed in a shuttle which in Spanish is called lanzadora, a word that is built on lanza or spear and shuttles are often pointed. 3. We noted the English term whorl and its variants and also mentioned that whorls are fitted onto spindles to help weight them, and later on pump drills as a sort of flywheel, i.e., a device which can store and dissipate kinetic energy in a way similar to a child’s top. Cobarruvias in 1611 uses the metaphor of a small spindle with its whorl to describe the shape and function of one type of broca. This type of broca was used to form the complicated embroidery patterns characteristic of an opulent kind of cloth called brocade, a cloth as we noted above, that takes its name from the tool. Elsewhere, [1] concerning the same electric drill, we have written about a tendency for cloth and clothing to be used as models or metaphors for the naming of technical devices. Here we note a similar but opposite phenomenon: a technical device provides the name for a kind of cloth. Machado cites a Portuguese source dated 1452 for brocade (brocado) as cloth [8, p. 466]. Thus, the English, Spanish and Portuguese forms for brocade are all cognates. This comes as no surprise, Spanish and Portuguese are both Romance languages and they are all Indo-European. The Chinese term is built on native material and more descriptive, hence: jin duan or ‘bright and beautiful silk-textile [15, p. 641]. 1
We would like to thank Professor Bo, Jiafu and Dr. Harry Liu for their help with this information. As noted, spindles are sometimes tapered towards their ends. This tapering would not be used in making the shafts of bow drills and pump drills. 2
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4. If one starts with a spindle and its attached whorl, i.e., a simple textile machine, and adds a cross-piece and cords one has a very efficient and high-speed drilling machine, or pump drill. This step in tool naming behavior is documented linguistically with the development of the terms para+hu´so and para+fuso in Spanish and Portuguese. It would be interesting to see if words for pump drills in other languages reflect a similar process.
References [1] Mulcahy FD, Liu Y. Some names concerning bearings: hardware and dry goods. Technol Soc 2005;27:575–81. [2] Mulcahy FD, Liu Y, Liang XL. Technology in the world’s major languages: naming tools and devices. In: Pudlowski Z, editor. Congress proceedings. UNESCO fifth global congress on engineering education, Polytechnic University 17–21 July, 2006. p. 178–80. [3] Oxford English Dictionary on line. [4] Chinese–English dictionary. Beijing: Beijing Foreign Language Institute; 1994. [5] HYDZD : 1994 (ISBN 7-80543-427-1/H.81). [6] Moliner M. Diccionario de uso del espan˜ol. Madrid: Gredos; 1984. [7] Corominas J, Pascual JA. Diccionario crı´ tico etimolo´gico castellano e hispa´nico, vol. 6. Madrid: Gredos; 1984. [8] Machado JP. Dicionaio etimolo´gico da lı´ ngua portuguesa, vol. 5. Lisboa: Livros Horzonte, Lda; 2003. [9] Cobarruvias S de. Tesoro de la lengua castellana o espan˜ola. Madrid: Ediciones. [10] Diccionario de autoridades. Vol. 3. Madrid: Editorial Gredos; 1990. [11] Vela´zquez M. A new pronouncing dictionary of the Spanish and English languages. New York: Applelton/Century/Crofts; 1970. [12] Herna´ndez Alonso C, et al. Diccionario del castellano tradicional. Valladolid: Ambito; 2001. [13] Portuguese concise dictionary. New York: Harper Collins; 1997. [14] Diccionario de la lengua espan˜ola. vige´sima edicio´n, vol. 2. Madrid: Espasa; 1984. [15] The English-Chinese word ocean. , vol. 3; 1991.
F. David Mulcahy is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Polytechnic University in Brooklyn, New York. He has done research in the United States, Spain, the Caribbean, and China. His research interests are in material culture, tools, fashion, language and culture. He teaches cultural and physical anthropology, Chinese art and North American Indians.
Yu-zhen Liu is the Director of Modern Languages at TEDA Polytechnic in Tianjin, China. She was trained in China and at Oxford University. She has done research at Fitchburg State College in Massachusetts. Professor Liu is a sociolinguist and has published several books.
Jian Xun Liang received her university training in China and has designed and done marketing research in China. She is currently studying management at Polytechnic University.
Technology in Society 30 (2008) 202–207 www.elsevier.com/locate/techsoc
Naming behavior and machine parts F. David Mulcahya,, Yu-zhen Liub, Jian Xun Lianga a
Polytechnic University, Brooklyn, NY, USA b TEDA Polytechnic, Tianjin, China
Abstract This is the third of a series of papers in which we investigate how mechanical parts are named. Our data consist of exploded-view parts diagrams. The languages we chose are English, Chinese, Spanish and Portuguese. The machine we study is a Bosch electric drill, which is marketed around the world. The part of interest is #30, which is a small, elongated cylinder-like object that transmits circular movement to the drill bit. All four languages call this part a spindle. A spindle is the earliest textile tool. It consists of a small, round shaft weighted with a disc near one end. It is used to spin, by hand, raw fiber into thread. All simple societies that make cloth use spindles. In previously published research we have pointed out a tendency to describe machine parts with metaphors from the linguistic domain of cloth and clothing. Thus, the use of spindle in this connection is consistent with findings so far. We have noticed two cases of cross-language commonalities. In English and Spanish spindle terms (spindle and huso) have expanded lexically to include the screw-like parts of printing presses, while in English and Chinese spindle terms (spindle and , zhou) have expanded to include axel-like components. Thus, textile mechanical labels expand to mean non-textile machine parts. We also discuss the etymology of brocade from the Spanish broca and the formation of this cloth name from a machine part. Finally, we consider the evolution of the Spanish and Portuguese terms for pump drill, another wide-spread early machine used as a drilling device. r 2008 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Keywords: Naming behavior; Machine parts; Drills; Spindles; Tools
This is the third article in a series, which investigates the role of language and culture in naming the component parts of machines [1,2]. We live in a world full of, if not cluttered with, mechanical things and their number is growing. But how are these machines constituted? What do we call their parts? How did these names come to be? The data we use come from the exploded-view parts diagrams for a Bosch electric drill model #0601140743, which are available form the Company in English, Chinese, Spanish and Portuguese. Exploded-view parts diagrams for almost all machines are available from their manufacturers. When a machine breaks the owner uses these diagrams and an accompanying list of parts to order a new part by number and name. Manufacturers generally make these diagrams available in several important technological languages, thus allowing users to order replacement parts. These diagrams provide a ready source of data for researchers interested in technical naming.
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: [email protected] (F. David Mulcahy). 0160-791X/$ - see front matter r 2008 Published by Elsevier Ltd. doi:10.1016/j.techsoc.2007.12.002
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We consider this research to be very basic—we have no specific hypotheses in mind, but rather we wish to proceed inductively and follow the data to where they lead us. Although our methodology is inductive, we expect in this and future articles to begin to find generalizations in the data. Even at this early stage we have noticed that the lexical domains of cloth and clothing [1,2] and architecture and botany [2] play a role in naming parts of technical devices. Labeled diagrams, which portray the same machine in several languages, provide the cultural-linguistic data that allow analysis on a level of experimental elegance. Thus an identical stimulus—a diagram of the parts of the same machine—elicits ‘similar or different’ responses from a variety of cultural-linguistic systems. We chose our four languages because they are the ones in which we are competent. The part we will study is #30 which is a small, elongated cylinder-like object which transmits circular movement to the drill bit. English The name for this part in English is drilling spindle. The Oxford English Dictionary [3] defines drills as ‘contrivances of many kinds for boring holes in metal, stone, and other hard substances, from a pointed steel tool to an elaborate drilling machine,’ and traces the word to the Dutch (1599) drill, drille and cites drillspindle as an attribute of the English drill. The same source gives the Old English spinel and the Old High German spinela, -ala as etymons for spindle which it defines as ‘a simple instrument employed in spinning by hand, consisting of a slender rounded rod (usually of wood), tapering towards each end, which is made to revolve and twist into thread the fibers drawn out from a bunch of wool, flax, or other material’ (see Fig. 1). Under special combinations regarding spindle, the OED gives ‘spindle-twirl, whirl, -whorl, a whorl used for weighting a spindle.’ Other examples are ‘spindle-whirle’ from a 17th century source and ‘spindle-whorls’ from a 19th century source. Another usage of the term spindle is given as: ‘a rod, usually of iron or other metal, serving as an axis upon which, or by means of which, something revolves or is turned round.’ A gruesome 18th century account is given: ‘An apprenticeybeing under the spindle of a grindstone, that was going by water, had the hair of his head caught by the spindle [3].’ The OED cites, from a 16th century source, the use of spindle to name the screw-like rod used to operate a printing press: ‘Cochela, the vice [sic] or spindle of a press: the winding peece.’ It also notes from 1677 ‘The length of a Worm begins at the spindle of a presse: the winding peece [3].’ The same source provides drill-bow as an attribute of drill. The drill-bow is part of an early device known to anthropologists who study material culture as a bow drill. A rod or shaft is provided with a sharp, hard point at one end and a curved knob at the other end. A capstone with a socket to match the knob is fitted onto the rod and is held in the left band. A small bow is looped around the rod and moved back and forth with the right hand so that the drill point makes a hole in the work (see Fig. 2). The OED states from a 1703 source ‘You must keep your drill-bow straining your string pretty stiff,’ while an 1865 source relates ‘The Dacothas used a drill-bow for the purpose of obtaining fire.’
Fig. 1. Spindle with whorl.
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Fig. 2. Bow drill.
Chinese The Chinese for part #30 is or ‘dian zuan zhu zhou.’ A literal translation would be: ‘electric drill principle axis,’ where zuan is ‘drill; auger [4, p. 940]’ and ‘principle axis’ is ‘main shaft’ or ‘spindle [4, p. 917].’ The HYDZD [5, p. 3520] defines as, inter alia: 1. ‘A spindle, a similar rod or pin used for spinning on a spinning wheel.’ 2. ‘A loom.’ 3. ‘A kind of mechanical accessory, in most instances it refers to a metal rod used to support other turning accessories.’ 4. ‘A numerical classifier used to count things wrapped around a rod.’
Spanish The Spanish for component #30 is husillo de la broca. Husillo is the diminutive of huso or spindle. M. Moliner defines huso as ‘a utensil of wood or iron on which twisted fibers are wound from the distaff; it is a long, rounded object which is tapered towards its ends.’ The same author gives the Latin fusus as its etymon [6, p. 79]. Corominas y Pascual relate that husillo, the diminutive of huso, is a ‘screw employed to lower printing presses and machines of the like [7, p. 435].’ Broca is the common Spanish word for ‘drill bit.’ The word has an extensive history. C&P define broca as follows: ‘the technical name of various pointed objects or objects having a sharp-pointed configuration [7, p. 627(A-CA)]’. They give its first documented use in Spanish in 1350 meaning ‘point,’ in 1432 it was used as a ‘fork,’ in 1611 as ‘button,’ and ‘carrete,’ (a spool, see below). In 1642 it meant ‘shoemaker’s nail,’ and in 1888 ‘drill’ [7, p. 627]. Although C&P cite Latin cognates for broca as does Machado [8, p. 466], they are in favor of a Celtic origin for the word. Cobarruvias in 1611, [9, p. 237] describes broca: ‘Because of its round form we call broca a certain little round object that those who do embroidery use to fasten the cords that they embroider—almost like a spindle and a whorlywe also call cloth rich in gold, brocado because of the broaches and brass nail-heads that it contains [sic].’ For broca the Diccionario de Autoridades in 1726 [10, p. 685] echoes Cobarruvias and gives: ‘a certain little round thing that those who do embroidery use to fasten the cords that they embroider—almost like a spindle and a whorl.’ Here, as in Cobarruvias, the word for whorl appears to be tortera or the ‘wheel (rodaxa) that is put on the end of the spindle which aids in the spinning of fiber [10, p. 307].’ Rodaxa (beside rodaja) also appears to be a pulley motivated by a cord that passes over it [10, p. 629]. The same reference defines the verb urdir as ‘providing the first threads in what will be the cloth [10, p. 397].’ Thus, the word describes the setting up of looms. See also Vela´zquez [11, p. 642]. The DA also comments, under rodaja ‘Among weavers it [rodaja] is understood by the urdidores along with their teeth, caxe´tas, shuttles, armatures and rodajas [10, p. 629].’ Also for broca the DA [10, p. 685] gives: ‘We also call [it] a small iron object which is round like a thimble with which locksmiths, blacksmiths and other artisans make depressions in keys and drill iron and other things: it is attached to the shaft of this instrument.’ The same source also mentions square shoemakers’ nails as a gloss [10, p. 685]. The DA defines brocado or brocade as: ‘Woven cloth with silk, gold or silver or with either one or the other, of which there are several kinds. Of greatest price and value is that which is called tres altos because on its background there is thread of silver, gold or silk twist forming flowers and designs. It is also called broca´to a
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name which it takes from the brocas with which the threads and twisted cords that make it are attached [10, p. 686].’ C&P assert that the Spanish for brocade as well as its Italian cognates come from a Celtic root by way of the Catalan brocat which also appears to be the source of the Spanish broca [7, p. 672]. See also Moliner [6, p. 417]. The reader will recall that C&P writing in 1984 cite carrete as a 17th century meaning of broca. Vela´zquez, writing c. 1850 defines carrete as a ‘spool, bobbin, reel’ and a ‘small reed for winding silk or gold and silver twist [11, p. 129].’ In the same dictionary he defines broca as ‘a reel for twist, silk, or thread [11, p. I, 98].’ Herna´ndez Alonso et al. [12, p. 751] define broca as ‘a part of a loom on which fibers are wound. It is a carrete which is put into the shuttle (see lanzadora, below).’ Portuguese The Portuguese for component 30 is fuso da furadeira. Machado defines fuso as ‘spindle’ from the Latin fusu and the Late Latin fusum [8, p. 106]. The Spanish husillo and huso are cognates. Furadeira is based on % the verb furar ‘to make holes’ [8, p. 104]; see also HC [13, p. 130]. Pump drills There was an early hand-powered technical device that was used in Spain and elsewhere in the world that served as a high-speed drill. The name in Spanish is parahu´so, beside parauso. The Diccionario de la Lengua Espan˜ola of the Spanish Royal Academy [14, p. 1011] defines it as: ‘a manually operated instrument used by locksmiths and other artisans for drilling, and which consists of a cylindrical drill that receives the rotational movement of two cords or thongs which wind and unwind alternatively and raise and lower a cross-piece to which they are tied’ C&P [7, p. 434, 435] devote an article of some length to the word, and address the evolution of its morphology but agree that it is built on the word huso, or spindle. The reader will notice that if the cross-piece and cords are removed from the parahu´so we are left with a device not unlike a spindle and its whorl. Machado [8, p. 301] lists the Portuguese parafuso ‘like the Spanish parahuso [sic].’ We note also that in Portuguese parafuso is the word for (machine) screw [13,2, p. 253]. In English the device is called a pump drill (Fig. 3). In China among the merchants and mechanics of the industrial supply district of Tianjin, ( , Nan Ma Lu) it is called ‘drill’ or ‘wood drill.’ One antique dealer in the same city gave us , wu zuan or ‘support drill.’ This is the same name found for pump drill in the English-Chinese Word Ocean [15, p. 4235]. Google in Chinese lists the same term and notes that a round, moveable iron plate is attached to the device. We interpret this to be a flywheel or whorl. The device was employed until recently in the city by ambulatory
Fig. 3. Pump drill.
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artisans who used it to drill holes in porcelain bowls and dishes so they could be repaired.1 The first author saw such a tool being used in a suburb of Tianjin, China in 1995. While we were interviewing Chinese informants about pump drills they volunteered information about bow drills, saying that they were also used in the city until recently. Discussion From the etymological and the technical—historical data that we review it is clear that we are dealing with a small number of words and simple devices when we delve into the nomenclatural origins of part 30. We are talking about a sharp point, and a rod-like shaft. Add to these a cross-piece, some cords, a weighted disk and a small bow and a capstone with a socket and the list is complete. In various combinations these components can make and have made several tools2: 1. Rod or shaft+whorl ¼ a spindle: a tool for spinning. 2. Rod or shaft+whorl+point+cord+cross-piece ¼ pump drill. 3. Rod or shaft+point+capstone with socket+bow ¼ bow drill. We should consider that in a purely conceptual sense these parts are interchangeable. In addition to these generalizations, we would discuss some specific points: 1. We stress the dominant role of the language domain of textiles as basic material for the origins of component 30. Specifically, this machine part has essentially the same name across our four target languages, this being drill+spindle. The spindle is the earliest textile device. In English, of course, the word for drill is drill. For Chinese, the translation is zuan. For Spanish it is broca while the term in Portuguese is furadeira. But all share spindle. We have seen that among our four languages spindle has been expanded in both English and Spanish to include the screws of early printing presses. Likewise both English and Chinese expand spindle to include axle-like components. These are noteworthy commonalities. Lexical expansion further played a role—Parafuso has expanded in Portuguese to also mean machine screw. We also call attention to how whorl has expanded in its Spanish form rodaxa, rodaja to produce a word for pulley or visa versa. 2. The most interesting of the words for drill is the Spanish broca. It has or has had several meanings over some 650 years. C&P suggest that the shared meaning for the word is that it represents pointed objects. We concur, but note that buttons and spools are not really pointed. The spool, reel, meaning of broca can, however, be associated with pointedness; it can be installed in a shuttle which in Spanish is called lanzadora, a word that is built on lanza or spear and shuttles are often pointed. 3. We noted the English term whorl and its variants and also mentioned that whorls are fitted onto spindles to help weight them, and later on pump drills as a sort of flywheel, i.e., a device which can store and dissipate kinetic energy in a way similar to a child’s top. Cobarruvias in 1611 uses the metaphor of a small spindle with its whorl to describe the shape and function of one type of broca. This type of broca was used to form the complicated embroidery patterns characteristic of an opulent kind of cloth called brocade, a cloth as we noted above, that takes its name from the tool. Elsewhere, [1] concerning the same electric drill, we have written about a tendency for cloth and clothing to be used as models or metaphors for the naming of technical devices. Here we note a similar but opposite phenomenon: a technical device provides the name for a kind of cloth. Machado cites a Portuguese source dated 1452 for brocade (brocado) as cloth [8, p. 466]. Thus, the English, Spanish and Portuguese forms for brocade are all cognates. This comes as no surprise, Spanish and Portuguese are both Romance languages and they are all Indo-European. The Chinese term is built on native material and more descriptive, hence: jin duan or ‘bright and beautiful silk-textile [15, p. 641]. 1
We would like to thank Professor Bo, Jiafu and Dr. Harry Liu for their help with this information. As noted, spindles are sometimes tapered towards their ends. This tapering would not be used in making the shafts of bow drills and pump drills. 2
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4. If one starts with a spindle and its attached whorl, i.e., a simple textile machine, and adds a cross-piece and cords one has a very efficient and high-speed drilling machine, or pump drill. This step in tool naming behavior is documented linguistically with the development of the terms para+hu´so and para+fuso in Spanish and Portuguese. It would be interesting to see if words for pump drills in other languages reflect a similar process.
References [1] Mulcahy FD, Liu Y. Some names concerning bearings: hardware and dry goods. Technol Soc 2005;27:575–81. [2] Mulcahy FD, Liu Y, Liang XL. Technology in the world’s major languages: naming tools and devices. In: Pudlowski Z, editor. Congress proceedings. UNESCO fifth global congress on engineering education, Polytechnic University 17–21 July, 2006. p. 178–80. [3] Oxford English Dictionary on line. [4] Chinese–English dictionary. Beijing: Beijing Foreign Language Institute; 1994. [5] HYDZD : 1994 (ISBN 7-80543-427-1/H.81). [6] Moliner M. Diccionario de uso del espan˜ol. Madrid: Gredos; 1984. [7] Corominas J, Pascual JA. Diccionario crı´ tico etimolo´gico castellano e hispa´nico, vol. 6. Madrid: Gredos; 1984. [8] Machado JP. Dicionaio etimolo´gico da lı´ ngua portuguesa, vol. 5. Lisboa: Livros Horzonte, Lda; 2003. [9] Cobarruvias S de. Tesoro de la lengua castellana o espan˜ola. Madrid: Ediciones. [10] Diccionario de autoridades. Vol. 3. Madrid: Editorial Gredos; 1990. [11] Vela´zquez M. A new pronouncing dictionary of the Spanish and English languages. New York: Applelton/Century/Crofts; 1970. [12] Herna´ndez Alonso C, et al. Diccionario del castellano tradicional. Valladolid: Ambito; 2001. [13] Portuguese concise dictionary. New York: Harper Collins; 1997. [14] Diccionario de la lengua espan˜ola. vige´sima edicio´n, vol. 2. Madrid: Espasa; 1984. [15] The English-Chinese word ocean. , vol. 3; 1991.
F. David Mulcahy is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Polytechnic University in Brooklyn, New York. He has done research in the United States, Spain, the Caribbean, and China. His research interests are in material culture, tools, fashion, language and culture. He teaches cultural and physical anthropology, Chinese art and North American Indians.
Yu-zhen Liu is the Director of Modern Languages at TEDA Polytechnic in Tianjin, China. She was trained in China and at Oxford University. She has done research at Fitchburg State College in Massachusetts. Professor Liu is a sociolinguist and has published several books.
Jian Xun Liang received her university training in China and has designed and done marketing research in China. She is currently studying management at Polytechnic University.