a question only a WIS could ask :lol:Originally Posted by Nuphoria
Just occurred to me last night at O'dark hundred when I couldn't sleep -
Why is a watch called a watch?
I have a few half sensible theories but wondered if you chaps had a definitive answer for me. :?:
a question only a WIS could ask :lol:Originally Posted by Nuphoria
I definitely don't know. However, I hope that it is because they do the (timekeeping) work of the watch, i.e., those people who keep watch.
Best wishes,
Bob
No idea guys...difficult enogh is to know how something is said in english. In spanish, watch is reloj, derived from catalan relotge, derived from latin horologium.
Yes I thought it may have something to do with the military type keeping watch... good assumption.
So am I am WIS then? Please explain what that means too! :lol:
I think Bob has the right idea. The "watch", i.e. the night time patrols of town & cities would call out the time as they did their rounds, this being before clocks could be found in every house. Thus when a timepiece became available that would fit in your pocket it became known as a pocket watch as it was like being able to carry the "watch" around with you.
All speculation and conjecture I'm afraid but it sounds right to me.
Dave
Hi
You should read the book "longitude" by Dava Sobel...
...the answer to your question lies in that very book.
As a teaser read this wiki entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harrison
Thanks
deano
Here's what the online word origin dictionary has to say
O.E. węcce "a watching," from węccan (see watch (v.)). Sense of "sentinel" is recorded from c.1300; that of "person or group officially patroling a town (esp. at night) to keep order, etc." is first recorded 1539. Meaning "period of time in which a division of a ship's crew remains on deck" is from 1585. Sense of "period into which a night was divided in ancient times" translates L. vigilia, Gk. phylake, Heb. ashmoreth.
"The Hebrews divided the night into three watches, the Greeks usually into four (sometimes five), the Romans (followed by the Jews in New Testament times) into four." [OED]
The meaning "small timepiece" is from 1588, developing from that of "a clock to wake up sleepers" (1440). Watchmaker is recorded from 1630; watchtower is attested from 1544.
So I wasn't that far away, amazingly. Think I'll award myself another beer. :)Originally Posted by SimonK
Good call! :thumbright: I'll drink a beer on your behalf.Originally Posted by Panofsky
Beers all round for you boys I think. That answer will do for me now but no-one has told me what a WIS is yet?!
Watch Idiot Savant :)Originally Posted by Nuphoria
Dave E
Skating away on the thin ice of a new day
Oh, thank you.
I take it as a compliment then. I'm known as clever-stupid by my OH already :?
Used all over by watch collectors :) Just means we know too much about watches, probably at the expense of other stuff...Originally Posted by Nuphoria
Dave E
Skating away on the thin ice of a new day
Not really, it's an affliction and a curse, but you're in good company :)Originally Posted by Nuphoria
Yes, definitely to the detriment of other things... I should be walking the dogs right now instead of "playing with my watch boyfriends"
:D
Which was derived from the Greek, hora+logos = tells timeOriginally Posted by angeche
The word clock means bell in German.Originally Posted by SimonK
john
"Owning one is almost as satisfying as making one." ~ Rolex 1973
What Sigurd said!Originally Posted by Sigurd
why is a 710 called a 710?
Good luck everybody. Have a good one.
710
Based on a joke.
A woman goes into a auto parts store and asks for a "710" cap for her car. The people don't know what she's talking about until she writes it down on a sheet of paper.
(Try it and then flip it around as if you were at a counter and the person across the counter wrote it.)