History, Wonder Tales, Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends The Flemish | Page 165

lading of a ship; probably ad. M.Du. or MLG. vrecht, variant of vracht. Loss (1482,
from Sc.), to unload a vessel, to discharge goods from a vessel; ad. M.Du. lossen,
from los, loose.
Reef (1390), one of the horizontal portions of a sail which may be successively rolled
or folded up; ME. riff, refe, corresponds to (M.)Du. reef, rif, LG. reef, reff, and the
ultimate source for both Eng. and Low Dutch is ON. rif, in the same sense; it is
possible that the word has passed through Low Dutch into English.
Marl (c. 1440, Pr. Parv.), to tie, noose; (1704), to fasten with marline, small line, to
secure together by a succession of half-hitches; ad. Du. or LG. marlen (whence Sw.
märle, Da. merle), apparently a frequentative from M.Du. merren, to tie. Marling, vbl.
sb. (1485, Naval Acc. Hen. VII), the action of marl; first as ‘merlyng irenes’.
Woolding (c. 1440, Pr. Parv.), the action of binding an object tightly with cord, esp.
nautical, the action of winding rope or chain round a mast or yard, to support it where
it is fished or broken; (c. 1425), a wrapping, swathing, esp. nautical, the rope or chain
used in woolding; late ME. wol(l)ing, probably ad. MLG. woling, M.Du. woeling (Du.
woeling, whence Da. vuling), from the MLG. vb. wolen, to woold. Woolder (1548), a
woold rope, in rope-making, a stick used as a lever in woolding, also a workman
operating this; from woold, vb. and -er. Woold (1616), the late appearance of this
word suggests that it is a back-formation from woolding, but it was probably a late ME.
adoption of MLG. wolen, wölen (LG. wölen, pa. pple. wöld) or M.Du. woelen, ‘premere,
constringere, torquere’ (Kilian) (Du. woelen), to woold. Woold (1628), woolding,
binding cord or rope; from the vb.
Swift (1485), to tighten or make fast by means of a rope or ropes drawn taut, e.g. the
rigging or masts, the capstan bars, or a boat or ship, by passing a rope round the
gunwale or round the bottom and upper works to prevent strain; owing to the
scantiness and chronological discrepancy of the early evidence the immediate source
of this word is difficult to ascertain; presumably it is of Low Dutch or Scand. origin;
compare ON. svipta, to reef, sviptingar, reefing ropes, Du. zwichten, to take in sails, to
roll up ropes, zwichtings, zwichtlijnen, cat-harpings, W.Fris. swicht, a partly or
completely folded sail, Da. svigte, to take in sail.
Aloof (1549), an obsolete phrase, the order to the steersman to turn the head of the
ship towards the wind, or to make her sail nearer the wind, now luff; (1532), adv.,
away to the windward; (c. 1540), away, at some distance apart; from a, preposition,
and loof, luff, weather gauge, windward direction, perhaps immediately from Du. loef,
in ‘te loef’, to windward, ‘loef houden’, to keep the luff; cf. Da. luv, Sw. lof, perhaps
also from Dutch.
Laveer (1598), to beat to windward, to tack; ad. Du. laveeren, in the 17th century also
loeveren, M.Du. laeveren, loveren, ad. F. loveer, now louvoyer, from lof, windward, of
Low Dutch origin; the Du. word has been adopted into Scand. as Sw. lofvera, Da.
lavere.
Sheer (1626), to turn aside, alter course; perhaps a use of the vb. shear, but the
development of sense is obscure; in MLG. and LG., Du. (but not M.Du.) scheren
(etymologically identical with shear) is often intransitive and reflexive, with the sense

165