On Wed, 30 Oct 1996, Glenn Mapes wrote:
> We know the expression "cock your pistol", but this came about later,
> in the days of the flintlock and its predecessors, the snaphaunse
> (snapping hen, Dutch), dog lock (English), and miguelette (little
> Miguel?- Spanish) I have no idea what expression they used in the
> days of the wheel lock. It could have been "span your firelock", but
> probably not.
>
> Finally, I have no idea why they called it a spanner. Think about the
> complexity of this mechanism though. You can see why only the rich
> had it. Also, it was very reliable and was in use for about 200 years.
<snip>
Glenn,
in german, "Spannung" means tension.
"spannen" means to put somethig (such as a spring) into tension.
A "spanner" is something to put something into tension with.
Maybe there was (or is?) a similar word in english?
"Spanner" also means peeping tom in german, so I could make up a good
story about who we got from spanner to wrench, but I won't...
I would like to know the origin of the term "dog" in the technical sense,
though, and _exactly_ what it refers to.
Ulix
|