clipka <ano### [at] anonymousorg> wrote:
> Am 03.07.2018 um 15:33 schrieb Stephen:
>
> >> I'm still fascinated that no one has any idea about the origin of the
> >> term for a
> >> metal disk with a hole being called a "washer".
> ...
>
> > From
> > https://www.quora.com/Why-is-a-washer-hardware-named-so
> >
> >
> >> There is a repeated mention of the year 1346, in which it is believed
> >> to have first appeared. The actual word that appeared in 1346 was

> >>
(http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1713/whats-the-purpose-of-washers-the-round-metal-things/)
> >>
> >>
> >> Now some deductions: This might have come from the German word "Wache"
> >> which means "to guard/ to secure".
>
> That seems bogus to me on many levels.
>
> First of all, "Wache" is a noun, not a verb.
>
> Second, the corresponding verb, "wachen", literally means "to be awake";
> while it /can/ be used in the sense of "to guard", in this use it does
> /not/ carry a connotation of actively /defending/ against something

> passively /watching/ to alert others if something happens. I don't think
> that would be fitting to describe the function of the device.
>
> Third, to my knowledge there is no evidence that any word derived from
> "wachen" has ever been used for this or a similar device in the German
> language. (There /does/ exist a word derived from "sichern" for a
> similar device, namely "Sicherungsscheibe", which denotes a locking washer.)
>
> Fourth, although there is an undeniable /visual/ similarity between the
> words, they /sound/ significantly different. Most notably, while I can
> easily imagine the soft German "ch" found in words like "Licht"
> transforming to the English "sh" sound found in "washer", the "ch" in
> "Wache"/"wachen" is a hard one, and I have a hard time imagining it
> transforming into anything other than "k".
>
>
> Given that "w(h)asher" seems to have originally been used "in the sense
> of 'a perforated annular disc or flattened ring of metal, leather, or
> other material placed between two surfaces subject to rotative friction,
> to relieve friction and prevent lateral motion and unsteadiness,'"
> [quoted also from straightdope], I would suggest that the word might
> instead have originated from the German word "wischen" ("to wipe").
>
> A "thing that wipes" could conceivably be called "Wischer" in German (as
> a matter of fact that's an actual word used in precisely that sense for
> various devices), which is just two minor turns away from "washer" (the
> German word essentially being pronounced "visher").

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...

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

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