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.

Date: 2014-06-06 03:59 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] browngirl.livejournal.com
*makes a note*

Date: 2014-06-09 02:29 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] prettygoodword.livejournal.com
Going canoeing?

Date: 2014-06-16 06:49 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] browngirl.livejournal.com
My characters might.

Date: 2014-06-16 02:23 pm (UTC)
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