"Flippers, goggles, oxygen tank" -- cringeworthy, or useful??

[David Wilson]

The most famous Russian word in the English language is "Robot". It comes from the verb "to work". Yes, it's also Czech, as was the guy who brought it to the English language.

Indeed. For those not in the know, the Wikipedia article at Robot - Wikipedia tells us: "The term robot comes from a Czech word, robota, meaning "forced labour". The word 'robot' was first used to denote a fictional humanoid in a 1920 play 'R.U.R.' (Rossumovi Univerzální Roboti - Rossum's Universal Robots) by the Czech writer Karel Čapek but it was Karel's brother Josef Čapek who was the word's true inventor." Czech is a Slav language like Russian, where the related noun "работа" (rabota) means "work" rather than the forced labour or drudgery that robots relieve human beings from having to perform. The German noun for "work", "Arbeit", can be traced back to the same Indo-European origin. The Czech noun for "work" is "práce", while "robota" is Czech for "corvée", a day's unpaid labour owed by a vassal to his feudal lord.

 

[David Wilson]

I'm with @The Chairman and others who find this sort of terminology, lexicon, language, and entomology fascinating. It's fun stuff

I agree. It was the wonderful quirkiness yet rule-based structure of language that led me to major in French and German at university during the 1960s. What I gleaned back then still serves me well in retirement when I research my hobbies online through the medium of other languages. There's even a theory doing the rounds here in the UK that foreign language study can stave off dementia. By the way, I loved the way you slipped the word "entomology" into the conversation to see if you could catch us all out; the study of word origins is "etymology", while "entomology" denotes the study of insects.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Sometimes the problem is the absence from English of an exact translation of a common term in another language. What comes to mind is the Russian noun "гидрокостюм", which combines the Greek prefix "hydro" with the French noun "costume". It would be great if we had an English expression such as "water suit" or "hydrosuit" to denote garments worn in aquatic conditions just as we have "space suit" to denote what astronauts wear. The Russian term "гидрокостюм" (gidrokostyum) covers garments used in water skiing, caving, fishing and powerboating as well as diving. Google Translate and even the more reliable Linguee automatically translate "гидрокостюм" as "wetsuit", which is only sometimes accurate because the Russian term "гидрокостюм" can also denote a drysuit.

Even if you don't read old Russian diving books as a hobby as I do, don't you regret the absence of an English term such as "water suit" or perhaps "aqua suit" to complement "space suit" and to denote aquatic apparel that may be either a wetsuit or a drysuit? I get very irritated when every diving suit is described as a wetsuit by educated lay people who think the "wet" in wetsuit is to do with it being worn in water rather than to do with it admitting a little water that is then warmed to body temperature. Do drysuit wearers simply smile patiently when their expensive exposure suits are described as wetsuits?

That reminds me of the first word for computer in Greek: elektrikokefalo (electric head). That's been dropped for "komputer"

 

[David Wilson]

That reminds me of the first word for computer in Greek: elektrikokefalo (electric head). That's been dropped for "komputer"

Quite right too, although "electric head" does remind me of "the world's first computer-generated TV host" Max Headroom (above) from the early 1980s. German speakers used "Rechner" (calculator) for "computer" early on, but soon dropped the word in favour of "Computer" instead. French and Spanish speakers have resisted the incursion of English by deploying "ordinateur" and "ordenador", but Hispanophones are also happy with "computadora".

 

[D_Fresh]

By the way, I loved the way you slipped the word "entomology" into the conversation to see if you could catch us all out; the study of word origins is "etymology", while "entomology" denotes the study of insects.

Hahahaha, nice catch... Android autocorrect... or auto-INcorrect...

Of course I'm not as serious about etymology as you (with your degree and all), but I do believe the interest has helped with learning Tagalog here in the Philippines. It's a fascinating language with many Spanish and English words adopted and modified.... (i.e. "Como Esta" = "Kumusta ka", "Investivation" = "imbestigasyon")

 

[David Wilson]

Hahahaha, nice catch... Android autocorrect... or auto-INcorrect...

Of course I'm not as serious about etymology as you (with your degree and all), but I do believe the interest has helped with learning Tagalog here in the Philippines. It's a fascinating language with many Spanish and English words adopted and modified.... (i.e. "Como Esta" = "Kumusta ka", "Investivation" = "imbestigasyon")

I knew that people in the Philippines had Spanish-sounding names, but I had no idea that the national language Tagalog had so many Spanish loanwords. Thank you! It's bizarre how languages are said to "borrow" words from other languages but never return them. The only Tagalog loanword I know in English is "boondocks", which I understand comes from Tagalog "bundók" meaning "mountain" but is now used in English to describe a remote rural area.

 

[Zef]

I knew that people in the Philippines had Spanish-sounding names, but I had no idea that the national language Tagalog had so many Spanish loanwords. Thank you! It's bizarre how languages are said to "borrow" words from other languages but never return them. The only Tagalog loanword I know in English is "boondocks", which I understand comes from Tagalog "bundók" meaning "mountain" but is now used in English to describe a remote rural area.

The Philippines were under spanish rule for over 300 years. The US "liberated" them and then in turn colonized them for the next roughly 50 years. The US continued to occupy the Philippines from a military standpoint until the mid 80s when the Philippines adopted the idea in their constitution that foreign military presence in their land and seas for other than training purposes would be forbidden. Given their history, it is really no wonder that the language is strongly influenced by both spanish and english.

-Z

 

[Sam Miller III]

@John C. Ratliff

When I started diving in the late 1950s we wore flippers. As soon as we started calling them fins, they worked so much better
[QUOTE="John C. Ratliff, post: 8610339, member: 7842"
]I've been looking, but haven't seen any reference to this book yet:

View attachment 514961


SeaRat[/QUOTE]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hombre
Read post # 24... FYI

"In the beginning ...

Frenchman Louis de Corlieu invented a life saving device identified as Swimming propellers
Owen Potter Churchill discovered them in Tahiti-
Churchill entered into an agreement with De Corlieu began producing Swimming Fins in a Los Angeles factory.
1939 first year production was 940 pairs all purchased in SoCal.

Concurrently the first recreational dive company in the US Pops Romano's Los Angels based company Sea Net was producing Flippers

In 1960 Bill Barada (LA Co UW Instructor & NAUI instructor # A1 ) with coauthor Lloyd Bridges published a book "Mask and Flippers. the story of Skin diving" --(Hard & soft cover --no ISBN or LCCC #) Bill who is credited with many first in diving including the recreational dry suit and author of about 10 diving books began his diving with goggles and flippers in the 1930s - so it was a fitting that he used the termonogly Flipper to describe a dive fin.

I have not conducted a survey of my dive manuals or dive related books - but I suspect this it the last time the term Flipper was used to describe dive fins.

When self contained diving appeared in the US in the 1940s diving cylinders - tanks --were identified as "blocks" ...ie a single block - one scuba cylinder a double block two cylinders or even a triple block - three cylinders. I never questioned why ? by the early 1960s the term disappeared

In the very beginning masks were often called face plates the term used by commercial divers "

(FYI Bill Barada was a local diver, fellow LA Co UW instructor & NAUI A class instructor and an occasional diving buddy. My copy is inscribed to me by Bill & Lloyd- Possibly the only one in the world so inscribed)

(*"NAUI A Instructor" - when NAUI began in August 1960 the organization needed knowledgeable, experienced active instructors to strengthen the fledgling program, therefore the A or Associate program was created. Bill was A #1 , I am A 27. Now after all these almost 60 years only two of the A program remain,. my self and @Dr. bill s close personal friend Zale Parry who is as I recall A 12--- the passing parade of recreational diving )

John --- Keep up the good work-- The diving world needs you

Sam, Miller, 111

 

[David Wilson]

In the very beginning masks were often called face plates the term used by commercial divers

British Sub-Aqua Club co-founder Peter Small also used the term "face-plate" in his wonderfully readable 1957 book Your Guide to Underwater Adventure (Lutterworth Press) to denote a diving mask lens: "When looking at a mask, don't be afraid to pull back the lip of the groove that holds the face-plate, to see that it is deep and firm enough to do its job. Where there is a metal band around the outside edge, you won't need this test, but make sure that the band is secure." Here is a 1950s Typhoon Blue Star diving mask with the face-plate, the headstrap and the body disassembled. The groove for the face-plate or lens in the mask body mentioned by Small is clearly visible:

 

[Sam Miller III]

Thank you @David Wilson !

Just so happened I have the book and had it out doing some research just yesterday after noon.
Yes "Face Plate" was in common usage to describe a dive mask

Peter was early pioneer in the diving world- What a loss !

I was an observer from afar in my boat during that 1000 foot dive off Calalina Island when Peter and Christian Whitaker lost theur lives.

Do you recall the English published book-- which I have some wnhere in my library - that describes when Peter's wife Mary took her life ?

Three horrible English tragedies that should have never occurred !

Sam Miller, 111