prat(t)

["Alfred W. Tüting"]

> (Bruce:) On the same tack and without sailing too close to the wind, does any one
know why in the old days the anchors were 'won' after they had been
'weighed'.  Was it suppletion or an old form?<<

This reminds me of the special use of 'gewinnen' (to win) in my wife's
Transylvanian Saxon dialect (going back to the Middle Ages and in some
way cognate to Yiddish): e.g. (in German translation) "Man hat ihm den
Blinddarm gewonnen" (lit.: they have _won_ his appendix -> he had his
appendix taken out).
Etymologically, 'gewinnen' goes back to ahd. 'giwinnan' (the prefix has
only in Western Germanic the meaning of 'to acquire'). The root is g.
*wenn-a- 'sich mühen' (to struggle/strive for), gt. 'winnan', anord.
'vinna', ae. 'winnan' etc. German 'gewinnen' hence has the meaning
'durch Mühen erreichen' (to acquire by struggling etc.).
Maybe, also the English term 'to win an anchor' has to do with this idea.

"... A few rain showers accompanied by some lively breeze helps to
enliven our morning as we ease the ship away from the dock and win the
anchor. All hands not otherwise occupied turn to in pushing the capstan
around..."




Alfred