2021-05-29 ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุด – B – bicycle

Revision B

2021-05-29

ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุด – B – bicycle

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Dictionary.com

ออกเสียง bicycle = ‘BAHY-si-kuhl’ or “BAHY-sahy-kuhl’

Noun bicycle shortenedto “cycle” or informal “BIKE”

Dictionary.com

As technology advances, the language that we use changes.

New inventions (andconventions) prompt most of us

to abandon old-fashioned terms

like icebox infavor of more modern ones like refrigerator.

However, these terms mean roughly the same thing across generations.

We are going to explore how these words changed and why.

And, along the way,

you might learn to understand your elders a wee bit better.

velocipede and bicycle

Before the bicycle, there was the velocipede.

The early velocipedes came in a variety of designs

with everything from one to five wheels.

The first velocipede that was used widely was patented in 1818,

the same year the word entered the English language.

The word velocipede comes from theLatin velox

meaning “swift” and ped meaning “foot.”

The velocipede went mainstream in the 1860s,

when the Michaux company developed and mass produced

a two-wheeled, two-pedaled velocipede.

In other words, a bicycle.

The word bicycle (early spellings include bysicle)

is first found in an 1868 news article

describing trendy Parisians riding around onthem in the city.

The word bicycle comes from Latin roots: bi meaning “two” and cyclus meaning “wheel.”

The words velocipede and bicycle were used interchangeably

for a number of years. However, by the late 1870s,

as shown by Google Ngram results,

velocipede wasdropping out of favor.

The word velocipede continues to be used

to refer generally tohuman-powered wheeled transport of all kinds,

from unicycles to tricycles.

In French, however, un vélo remains a common way to refer to a bicycle.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Words at Play

Two-Wheeled Words: Bicycle Terms

10 words every true cyclist will know

Penny-farthing

Definition:

a bicycle with a large front wheel and a small rearwheel

common from about 1870 to 1890

The bicycle with a very large front wheel and tiny rear wheel

was invented in France in 1869.

The large front wheel allowed for faster speeds,

since the power from the pedals at the hub of the wheel was direct drive.

A larger wheel meant a greater distance traveled for each pedal turn

as well as a smoother ride over bumpy roads.

This kindof bicycle was called a hi-wheel or an ordinary

after the invention of the chain-driven safety bicycle

with equal wheel size.

The term penny-farthing arosein Britain,

 where a farthing was a small coin worth ¼ of a penny.

Put next to each other,

the penny resembled the large front wheel

and the farthing resembled the small rear wheel.

They were dangerous and expensive butpopular,

and it was because of them that bicycling truly became a sport.

Velocipede

Definition:

a lightweight wheeled vehicle propelled by the rider

The predecessorof the pedal bicycle was a two-wheeled vehicle

that was propelled with the feet while seated.

It was patented in 1818 in Germany, and its name, Laufmaschine,

(“running machine”) was translated into French as vélocipède

(from the Latin roots meaning “swift” and “foot”).

In English, this contraption was known as

the dandy horse or the hobbyhorse.

Velocipede became a term for any wheeled vehicle

propelled by therider in English, including early bicycles.

In French, it became the term used for

the improvedpedal-powered version designed in the mid-1800s.

This was shortened to vélo tobecome their modern word for "bicycle."

The pedal velocipedeswere nicknamed boneshakers

because they were madewith wooden wheels and iron frames.

After the introduction of rubber tires,

boneshaker became a slang term

for an uncomfortable or outmoded bicycle.

The veloc- of velocipede is also the root of velocity.

Criterium

Definition:

a bicycle raceof a specified number of laps on a closed course

over public roads closed to normal traffic

If criterium seems like a funny way to spell criterion,

that’s because, in a way, it is—both words share the same root.

In racing, criterium means

“a bicycle race of a specified number of laps on a closed course

over public roads closed to normal traffic.”

Often this is a loop around a town square

or some other central location.

This allowsfans to see riders pass on every lap

—not possible with road races.

A commentary is often broadcast overloudspeakers,

often including announcements for special prizes

during the race for winners of an individual lap,

known as primes (pronounced PREEMS), from the French word for “bonus.”

Criterion means

“a standard on which a judgment ordecision may be based,”

and entered English in the 1600s from Greek.

Criterium comes from French: critérium is a word

meaning “competition” or “sporting event

that classifies or eliminates competitors.”

It was first used in English in 1970.

Peloton

A word that was borrowed twice from French

Definition:

the main body of riders in a bicycle race

Riders in competitive races move inflocks for a reason:

the front riders break the wind

and those behind don’thave to work so hard to keep up.

As they rotate, thisallows for a much higher average speed for the group.

A lone rider would quickly become exhausted trying to maintain a similar pace.

They have to stay very close together forthis to work well,

and good riders know how to hold a very straight line

and not wobble slightly to the right and left, as most recreational riders do.

In French, this group is called the peloton,

and that word has become the English term as well.

It came into English with the meaning

“the main body of riders in a bicycle race” in the mid-20th century,

but the French word was originally less specific;

it meant simply “a group of people” and then“a group of soldiers.”

This was the meaning that was firstborrowed into English in the 1500s,

when it was slightly altered as platoon.

Thus, the same French word was borrowedtwice into English,

with different meanings and spellings.

Peloton was used of the main group of riders in a horse race

before it was transferred to cycling.

Pannier

Definition:

one of a pair ofpacks or baskets hung over the rear wheel of a vehicle

Baskets placed onboth sides of animals

such as horses, camels, and llamas

for carrying things were called panniers since the 1600s,

and were later adapted for bicycles.

Pannier initiallywas just a synonym of basket in English,

borrowed from the French word meaning “bread basket”

(the first syllable comes from the French word pain, meaning “bread”).

The word’s specific use referring to carrying things on a bicycle

dates from the 1930s, but it wasn’t until the 1970s

that the modern touring bags usually made out of waterproof nylon

and made to attach to a frame fastened abovethe rear wheel became available, along with handlebar bags.

Derailleur

Definition:

a mechanism for shifting gears on a bicycle

that operates by moving the chain from one set of exposed gears to another

The ability to change gears on a bicycle

was a major innovation fortouring and racing.

Initiallytwo-speed bikes were invented in the early 1900s,

and multiple gears were introduced inthe Tour de France in 1937.

(Prior to that time, the rear wheel had to bechanged

for a different gear to be used for uphill or downhill riding.)

Derailleur (pronounced dih-RAIL-er)

means “a mechanism for shifting gears on a bicycle

that operates by moving the chain fromone set of exposed gears to another.”

The large gearor gears connected to

the crankshafts and pedals are called chainrings

and the smaller gears

mounted on the hub of the rear wheel are called sprockets,

which together form a cogset. Levers connected by wire

from the frame or handlebars of the bike control the shifting.

Derailleur comes from the French word that

literallymeans “to derail,” as in a train from its tracks.

In Frenchit’s pronounced day-rah-yuhr.

Tandem bicycle

Definition:

a bicycle for two or more persons

on which the riders sit one behind another

Tandem bicycle comes from the name of a horse-drawn carriage

which was pulled by two horses harnessed one behind the other

(rather than side by side).

The tandem carriage dates from the 1790s; the tandem bicycle from the 1890s.

Tandem is used as an adverb that means “one after or behind another,”

and, appropriately enough, usually occurs following the word it modifies,

as in “to ride tandem.”

It is also used as an adjective,

as in “tandem skydiving” or “tandem parking spaces.”

In tandem means “working or happening together.”

Tandem comes from the Latin word that means “at length” or “at last”

—terms that relate to time and not physical dimension;

the word was adopted for the carriage as a pun to mean “lengthwise.”

Caliper

Definition:

a device for pressing a frictional material (asa brake pad)

against the sides of a rotating wheel or disc

Early bicycles had only one gear,

So, stopping could come from backpedaling,

but some early bikes also had “spoon brakes” of curved metal

that pushed directly on the tire tread.

The firstcaliper brake was used

for the small rear wheel of penny-farthing bicycles in the 1880s.

The caliper consisted of two small metal arms

joined at one end and openat the other;

the open ends could close or pinch toward each other

and apply friction to the sides of the tire or wheel.

Caliper originallymeant

“a tool that has two narrow legs

which can be adjusted tomeasure the thickness or width of something.”

This use dates to the 1500s

and the tool resembled a compass used for geometry.

The term caliper brake dates to 1904

according to the Oxford English Dictionary.

Caliper isetymologically almost identical to caliber,

meaning “the diameter of a bullet,”

named for the instrument used for measuring the caliber of a bullet.

Caliper came directly from Spanish into English,

but caliber traces back through French and Old Italian

to the Arabic word qālib meaning “shoemaker’s last”

—a tool used for measuring.

Recumbent

Definition:

a bike ridden while (almost) lying down

A recumbent bicycle is one that is ridden

while seated leaning back or nearly lying down.

The bike is usually lower to the ground,

and provides ergonomic advantages by distributing

the rider’s weight more evenly and reducingneck strain.

Aerodynamics are also improved, since the bike’s profile is much lower.

Recumbent comes from the Latin verb recumbere,

which means “to lie back” or “to recline.”

The related word incumbere, meaning“to lie down on,”

gave us the English word incumbent,

which originally referred to people

who held lifetime appointments in the church

—since they held the position for life, they were “lying on” on them,

which has since become the word meaning

“a person who holds a particular office or position.”

Fixie

Definition:

Slang term for a fixed-gear bicycle

The fixed-gear bicycle has made a comeback,

especially incities, where a simple and light bike,

often without caliper brakes, is a durable choice

(and where changing gears can be a distraction on city streets).

The term fixed-gear bicycle could beconsidered a retronym,

since at one time all bicycles had onlyone gear.

It has more recently beenshortened to fixie,

a term that dates to the early 1990s

and the slang of New York bike messengers.

An early use was found ina 1992 online discussion group,

where the suggestion was made that

pedestrians who felt menaced by bike couriers could reach out

and apply the caliper brake with its handlebar lever,

which provoked this exchange:

[You can stop a dangerous bike courier using his front brake.]

A number of couriers in NYC use `fixies'

-- fixed-gear bikes with no brakes.

I've always thought that was stupid, but maybe now I know why they do it...