thole

[prettygoodword]

thole (THOHL) - n., a pin or pair of pins inserted vertically in the gunwale of a rowing boat to provide a fulcrum for an oar.


This one's old, dating back to Old English þol, with cognates in several Germanic languages. The Scots verb meaning to suffer or endure, we ignore -- it can thole in ignorance.

---L.

Comments

[thistleingrey.livejournal.com]

Huh. I wonder why OED doesn't want to connect up "dowel." Insufficient support?

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

Hmm -- per American Heritage (which is what I have on hand), the PIE root for this is teue-*, with senses related to being extended or swollen (derivatives include thigh, thumb, and the middle of protuberance), while dowel comes from the PIE root of dek-*, to take or accept -- that is, it originally meant the hole (as late as the Greek and Latin intermediaries) and was transferred to the peg.

---L.

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

Er, that's supposed to be teuə-* ...

[thistleingrey.livejournal.com]

Fair! And distinct words with those two vowel qualities in modern English are rarely friends/kin of long standing.

Here is OED2 for thole, n.¹, minus bold/ital because I'm not adding it back in (it's caused some spacing issues) and not yet updated for third ed.:

Forms: OE thol, ðoll, þol; ME–15 tholle, 15–17 thoule, 16–17 thowle, 17 thoul, 18 thowel(l, thowl, ( thauel), 16– thole.(Show Less)
Etymology: Old English þol(l, corresponding to Old Norse þollr, Norwegian toll, tulle, Swedish (år) tull, Danish (aar) tol; Middle Low German dolle, dulle, dole, doule, Low German (Brem. Wbch.) dolle, dulle, East Frisian dolle, dol, Middle Dutch dolle, Dutch dol(l. Ulterior etymology uncertain. In Old Norse þollr was also ‘fir-tree’, poet. ‘tree’ generally: the connection of sense is not clear. The history of the English word also shows a hiatus during nearly the whole Middle English period.

The late altered forms thoule , thowle , and 19th cent. thowel , may be influenced by doule , dowle , dowel n.

The fir-tree bit interests me because one can also have ask-þollr, ash-tree, and I've no idea whether firs are some sort of default in Old Icelandic (haven't read enough of it--but ash and elm are often implied defaults in OE, by contrast). See also the GLP search hits.

OED2 for dowel n., more cautious than AHD:

Forms: ME–15 dowle, 16–17 doul(e, 17 dowl, ( dole), 18 dowel, dowell.
Etymology: Of doubtful derivation; perhaps answering to Middle Low German dovel, German döbel, Middle High German tübel, Old High German tubili plug, tap (of a cask, etc.). Still closer in form is Old French doelle, douelle barrel-stave, diminutive of < modern French douve in same sense; but the transference of sense is unexplained.

Is this AHD bit the Calvert Watkins insert, out of curiosity?

*crosses fingers* re: formatting--I could swear that LJ used to have comment preview.

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

Partly the Calvert Watkins insert (though he's directly credited only for the introduction, not actual section), but also cross-referenced from main entries. When I get chance later, I'll transcribe those. Though when I wrote this post, I was relying more on dictionary.com, which is more of an Random House house.

---L.

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

AHD has for thole (pin):

ME tholle, thole pin, < OE thol. See teuə-* in Indo-European roots

and for dowel:

ME doule, part of a wheel, perhaps from MLGer dovel, plug, or from OFr doele, barrel stave ( diminutive of douve, from LLat doga, vessel, from Gk dokhê, recepticle, from dekhesthai, to take; see dek- in Indo-European roots)

[thistleingrey.livejournal.com]

ah! Thanks for the dowel entry notes in particular. The "perhaps" is noteworthy, but a possible trajectory helps--certainly I've nothing with which to gainsay it. And sorry for wandering afield.