Fwd: Re: "flying horses"

[Joel S. Berson]

A correspondent on another list thoughtfully (in contrast to moi)
reported from the "Carousel" article on Wikipedia:
>I'm inclined to think that this refers to a carousel. Wikipedia says, "The
>earliest known depiction of a carousel is in a Byzantine bas-relief dating to
>around 500 A.D., which depicts riders in baskets suspended from a central
>pole."
>Further, "Early carousels had no platforms: the animals would hang on poles or
>chains and fly out from the centrifugal force of the spinning mechanism; these
>are called "flying horses" carousels." Wikipedia's entry notes that carousels
>were popular features of European fairs, although they didn't reach the
>pinnacle of achievement until the American phase (I do not comment on the
>-centrism implied by such a subjective view).

Although Wiki cites no sources for this, I can believe there were
carousels with horses on chains and that such horses on chains is a
significant contributor to the emergence of the phrase "flying
horses".  A 2001 article in the Los Angeles Times, also unsourced,
makes the same claim [Google].  and
http://factoidz.com/carousels-a-brief-history/ claims to know the
motive power:  "The carved horses or animals hung from poles by
chains, flying outward from centrifugal force as it turned by animals
walking in circles, or people pulling a rope or cranking" [a short
and dubious list of references, which includes -- unfortunately --
Wikipedia's "Carousel" article].

Joel

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org