of cat-heads and catenaries

[Dan Goncharoff]

I also note that the German for chain is "Kette", and is as likely a
derivation for "Kettenkopf" as a cat's head.

DanG

On Thu, Sep 16, 2010 at 9:56 PM, victor steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com> wrote:
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> Poster:       victor steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: of cat-heads and catenaries
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> My apologies is I left the impression that "cat-o'nine-tails" was
> derived from German--indeed there is no such suggestion. The reference
> was to the derivation of the cathead beam, as the paragraph Mark
> quotes--I thought, clearly--implies.
>
> Here's the relevant portion of the Wiki article on "cathead"
>
>> A second "cat head" was associated with a ship's anchor-cable and windlass. This was a square pin thrust into one of the handspike holes of a ship's windlass. When at anchor, the anchor rope (called a cable) was secured to this with a smaller rope tie called a seizing. The English term for this pin was 'norman'. In German, however, it was called a Kattenkopf (cat-head), and in this case it is a reference to the traditional way the top was notched and chamfered off so that in cross section, it resembled the ears of a cat.
>
> I had seen the same explanation with one of the random books that I
> came across, but failed to note it, at the time, and, with thousands
> of hits for "cathead", was not about to go back and search again.
>
> And, yes, in modern German, it would certainly be Katzenkopf. Take the
> Wiki for what it is.
>
> VS-)
>
> On 9/16/10, Mark Mandel <thnidu at gmail.com> wrote:
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>> Poster:       Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: of cat-heads and catenaries
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Where in "Wiki" or elsewhere did you see this suggestion? It's not in OED or
>> MWOL, nor in the English
>> Wiktionary<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cat_o%27_nine_tails>*
>> or Wikipedia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat-o%27-nine-tails>. And in any
>> case the modern German form would be "Katzenkopf", with a "tz".
>>
>> m a m
>>
>> * Wiktionary etymology: "From cat + of + nine + tails"
>>
>> On Wed, Sep 15, 2010 at 6:24 PM, victor steinbok
>> <aardvark66 at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>> There is a suggestion that the name "cat-head" for the anchor beams
>>> was derived from the German Kattenkopf for the knot with which the
>>> anchor cable was traditionally attached. The knot's shape resembled a
>>> cat's head in a way I previously described. This suggestion also ended
>>> up in Wiki.
>>>
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>>>
>>
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>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
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