LL-L "Etymology" 2009.06.27 (01) [EN]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 27 June 2009 - Volume 01
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From: M.-L. Lessing <marless at gmx.de>
Subject: LL-L "History" 2009.06.26 (05) [EN]

 Dear Reinhard, one curious question about "Steelyard": Did it have anything
to do with steel?! I looked it up on Wikipedia, but they say nothing about
the word's etymology, and the German Wikipedia spells the English version
"Stiliard" alternatively. I thougt (naively) that "Stalhof" had something to
do with stables. Wrong again? :-)

Hartlich!

Marlou
(Hamborg/Holstein)


----- Original Message -----
 *From:* Lowlands-L List <lowlands.list at GMAIL.COM>
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*Sent:* Saturday, June 27, 2009 12:24 AM
*Subject:* LL-L "History" 2009.06.26 (05) [EN]

From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Etymology


We are talking about the Steelyard, ...

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Etymology

Hi, Marlou!

And it's a good question, too.

Here is what the English Wikipedia says:

The Steelyard gave its name to a type of portable balance, consisting of a
graduated horizontal metal beam suspended on a chain. The whole balance
would be hung from a roof beam. A heavy object to be weighed, for instance a
sack of flour, would be hung on the shorter end of the beam, while lesser
but known weights would be slid along the other, longer end, till the beam
balanced. The weight of the sack could then be calculated by multiplying the
sum of the known weights by the ratio of the distances from the beam's
fulcrum.

The common non-English names -- German *Stahlhof*, Low Saxon *Stahlhoff*,
Dutch *Stalhof*, Russian *Стальной двор* -- refer to "yard" as "court" or
"courtyard", here in the sense of "compound". The English noun "steelyard"
denotes a weighing device, in which "yard" does not mean "courtyard". In
this case it was a large version of an ordinary steelyard balance (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steelyard_balance), German *Handwaage* or *
Schnellwaage*, Low Saxon *Ãœnzner* or* Ãœnstel*, Dutch *unster*, Russian *
безмен*.

So it seems to me that this is either a case of misunderstanding of "yard"
or a case of word play in naming the compound.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA

•

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