Am 03.07.2018 um 19:07 schrieb Bald Eagle:

> THAT actually sounds very plausible, given that:
> 

> quote that describes their use is from 1611:
> 
> .. . . an iron hoope, amongst gunners called a washer, which serues to keepe the
> iron pin at the end of the axeltree from wearing the naue."
> 
> Perhaps the rotating pin "wiping" and wearing --- whatever the heck a "naue" is.
>   Wipe, wash, scrub...

Given that the text appears to be using the same letter for U and V (see
"serues"), that's probably to be read as "nave" - which is phonetically
close to the German noun "Nabe", which means "hub".

The reference to gunners is interesting: Maybe early tools to wipe
("wash"?) the bore of a cannon featured such an "iron hoope"? For
small-bore cannons (or hand-held firearms), I would imagine that a
modern "washer" mounted onto a long pole and wrapped in a piece of cloth
would do nicely for such a tool.

Or maybe for the etymology of "washer" one should examine the language
of the country that was most influential in the development of cannons
and/or firearms in Europe (whatever country that might have been).


> Interestingly, the washer-shaped discs in a sound suppressor are called "wipes".
>   Maybe the ch in THAT German word is ... silent   ;)   :D

I suspect that those devices are called "wipes" because they actually
come into contact with the bullet.

The German term for those things is... dunno, but entirely different.

to identify which German term corresponds to which English one.)

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