History, Wonder Tales, Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends The Flemish | Page 163

Scoop (c. 1330), baler; (1487, Naval Acc. Hen. VII), a kind of shovel for dipping out
and carrying loose material; the word is apparently of twofold origin, from MLG.
schôpe or M.Du. schôpe, schoepe, a vessel for drawing or baling out water, bucket of
water-wheel, and from M.Du. schoppe (MLG. schuppe), shovel; the two words,
etymologically quite distinct, have through this close resemblance in form and sense
been to some extent confused in Low Dutch; F. borrowed écope in both senses, but
the word is recorded a century earlier in Eng. than in French.
Pump (c. 1440, Pr. Parv.), a mechanical device to raise water by suction, from early
times used on board ship to remove bilge water; the 15th-century form is pumpe,
pompe, and corresponds to e.mod.Du. pompe, Du. pomp, LG. pumpe, pump; the word
is as yet first known in England in the sense of ship's pump, in which use it is quite
common from 1450 to 1500, but in Low Dutch it is not recorded in this sense before
the 16th century (in Du. c. 1556, in LG. c. 1550; Plantijn, 1573, has it only in the sense
bilge; but Kilian, 1599, has it for ship's pump and pump generally); in Du. dialects
pompe is found before 1463 in the sense of a pipe or tube of wood or metal, or a
stone conduit for the conveyance of water underground, a sense also found in Fris.
and some LG. dialects; in view of these dates and the various senses it is not easy to
come to a conclusion as to the language in which the word arose; if the primary sense
was that of ‘tube, pipe’, the probability is that the word is of Low Dutch origin; if,
however, it is an echoic formation from the sound of the plunger striking the water,
then it can have arisen equally in Eng. or Low Dutch; in either case it was probably in
nautical use first.
Speke (1366), a handspike; (a. 1400), a wheel-spoke; ad. M.Du. or MLG. spēke,
spoke. Scote (1394, from Devon), perhaps a kind of cable; perhaps from M.Du.
schoot, ‘sheet’, rope, whence OF. escoute.
Another form of the same word is Shoot (1495, Naval Acc. Hen. VII), ad. MLG. schote
or M.Du. schoot (whence also West Fris. skoat, Sw. skot).
Wrakling (1494, from Sc.), a large make of nail, esp. used in ship-building; ad. MLG.
wrakelinge, M.Du. wrakelinc (whence also Fris. wrakling, plank-nail, Da. dial.
vraekling).
Plicht-anker (1508, from Sc.), the main anchor of a ship; ad. LG. plichtanker or Du.
plechtanker; the Du. and LG. word is usually referred to MLG. plicht, M.Du. plecht, a
small fore- or after-deck of an open boat, but Doornk.-Koolm. prefers derivation from
plicht, responsibility (O.E.D.).
Dale (1611), a wooden tube or trough for carrying off water, as from a ship's pump;
the word corresponds in this sense to Du. and LG. daal, also to F. dalle, and may be
from Low Dutch.
Handspike (1615, E.S., Britain's Buss), a wooden bar used as a lever or crow
especially on board ship and in artillery service; ad. e.mod.Du. handspaecke, Du.
handspaak, in the same sense, from spaak, M.Du. spake, pole, rod; in Eng.
apparently assimilated to the sb. spike. Marline-spike, Marlinspike (1626), an iron
tool tapering to a point used to separate the strands of rope in splicing, as a lever in

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