tumpline

Jun. 6th, 2014 07:19 am
prettygoodword: text: words are sexy (words are sexy)
[personal profile] prettygoodword
tumpline (TUHMP-leyen) - n., a strap strung across the forehead (or chest) to support a pack carried on the back.


Commonly used by native peoples across northern and central America, rather than shoulder straps like a knapsack (in Mexican Spanish, it's a mecapal). Technically it's not on the forehead but the front top of the head, just above the hair-line, so the weight passes directly into the spine. The tump- part is shortened from Penobscot mattump or metomp, from proto-Eastern Algonquian *mat-, empty root appearing in names of manufactured objects + *-a·pəy, string -- which means the English word is almost duplicative string-line.

---L.

March 2026

S M T W T F S
1 2 3 4 567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031    

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Mar. 6th, 2026 10:40 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios