释义 |
mizzenn.Origin: A borrowing from Italian. Etymons: Italian mezzana, mezzano. Etymology: Ultimately < Italian mezzana mizzen-mast (a1348), mizzen-sail (a1484; 1481 as mezana ), use as noun of feminine of mezzano middle, medium (see mezzanine n. and adj.); compare post-classical Latin medianum mizzen (1441 in this sense in an Italian source). The precise mode of transmission into English is uncertain (a Genoese three-masted carrack came into the hands of the English Crown in 1410). Compare Middle French migenne (1382 in a Norman source, denoting the smallest sail on a galley), mejane mizzen (1552 in Rabelais in an isolated borrowing < Old Occitan mejano (1525)), Middle French (Marseilles) mesane , mesianne (1525), Catalan mitjana (1467), Spanish mezana mizzen-mast (1493; attested earlier with the sense ‘a sail, possibly a foresail’ (1444)), mesana mizzen sail (1561), Portuguese mezena mizzen (15th cent.). Compare also early modern Dutch mesane , mezane , early modern German missan (1487), meisan (1636), Danish mesan , Swedish mesan all in sense ‘mizzen’. Forms with -u- and -o- (compare γ. forms above) also occur in other Germanic languages, e.g. early modern German moysahn (16th cent.), Swedish mösan, Danish mussan.Compare also, with sense ‘foresail’, Middle French misane (1463), mysayne (1530), mysenne (1531), misaine (1573), mizzane (1582), French †miseine (1636), †misene (1669), †mizaine (1680; French misaine foresail, foremast). The sense ‘mizzen’ is now supplied by French artimon . Italian mezzana has never (as sometimes suggested) denoted the mast ‘in the middle’, instead it originally (as in English) stands for the mast behind the main mast; in French it subsequently comes to denote the foremast. A more likely interpretation of the original sense in Italian is ‘a medium-sized sail’, as the mizzen was between the mainsail and the bowspritsail in size, when each mast only carried a single sail; the term then becomes associated with the position of the sail. Such an interpretation is supported by words for ‘mizzen’ in some languages being used to translate Latin epidromos (the stern sail in a classical ship), which is defined as [velum] secundae amplitudinis (a636 in Isidore Origines 19. 3. 3); compare also:OE Antwerp Gloss. (1955) 232 Epitrono, se medemesta segl. In Dutch forms in m- were gradually replaced by forms with initial b- (perhaps with dissimilation of the initial consonants, or perhaps influenced by the prefix be- ), e.g. besane (1480; Dutch bezaan (compare bezan n.); > Middle French, French †besane (1599 in Middle French; compare also Middle French, French †bassenne , and French †basenne (1611 in Cotgrave), †bezane (1659)), early modern German Besan (1664)). A proposed derivation from (Egyptian) Arabic mazzān mast whose sail holds the ship in balance (as if < Arabic mīzān balance, scales, noun of instrument < wazana to weigh; compare wazzān weighman) appears implausible; (Egyptian) Arabic mazzān is itself probably ultimately < Italian. It is uncertain whether the forms mesall , mesell , and myssyll s.v. main-mizzen n. show variants of the present word or contractions of mizzen sail n.; compare also musall n. Nautical. 1. society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > masts, rigging, or sails > sail > [noun] > mizzen 1416 in S. Rose (1982) 227 [For a certain small] sailyerd [to be used for the same] mesan [price 2s 4d]. 1465 in (1841) 200 Item, for a yerde for a meseyn, xvj.d. 1485 in M. Oppenheim (1896) 37 Blokkes for the meson with iij sheves of brasse. c1550 (1979) vi. 32 Heise the mysȝen and change it ouer to leuart. 1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny II. 1 Yet are not wee content with a single maine saile..vnlesse..we haue fore-sailes and sprit-sailes in the Prow, misnes also hoised vp..in the Poupe;..and all to set vs more forward vpon our death, and to hasten our end. 1609 John Dory vii, in F. J. Child (1894) V. ix. 132/2 They hoist their sailes, both top and top, The meisseine and all was tride-a. 1622 R. Hawkins lix. 138 To fight with sprit-saile, and myson, and top-sayles loose. 1638 T. Herbert (rev. ed.) 352 The Tempest..forced us..to lye by the Lee..no saile but the mizzen daring to oppose. 1670 J. Covel Diary in J. T. Bent (1893) ii. 130 A small vessel with a meson and stay sail. 1748 B. Robins & R. Walter i. vii. 73 We were obliged..to continue under a reefed mizen till eleven at night. 1794 D. Steel I. 83 A trysail, used instead of a mizen,..is extended towards the stern, and..fastened by hoops round a small mast, called a trysail mast, fixed near the aft-side of the main-mast in a block of wood in the quarter deck. 1840 R. H. Dana xxiii. 233 The mate then took his place between the knight-heads to ‘twig’ the fore,..and at the foot of the mainmast, for the mizen. 1886 R. C. Leslie vi. 130 The Dean is correct in his description of what was known in those days as bagpiping the mizen, by hauling the mizen-sheet to windward. 1951 H. Benham v. 71 ‘Jackass’ schooners..were so called because they were square rigged forward like a tops'l schooner, but had a ketch's mizzen. 1974 W. E. May in (National Maritime Museum) No. 15. 18 This boat [sc. the Montagu whaler]..had a fuller body aft and was rigged with a standing-lug mainsail, triangular foresail and small triangular mizen. 1985 R. Huntford xlv. 549 The mizzen kept the James Caird so much into the wind that the rudder was always dragging across her. 1579 G. Puttenham Partheniades in J. Nichols III. 477 Thou strike mizzen, and anker in his porte. a1625 J. Fletcher (1639) i. sig. B4v My sister is a goodly portly Lady,..she spreads satten, as the Kings ships doe canvas, every where she may spare me her misen, and her bonnets strike her maine petticoate, and yet outsaile me. 1702 J. Vanbrugh iii. ii There may be foul weather there too. I reckon at present he may be lying by under a mizen at the street door. 1988 J. Brodsky 93 A sleep-crumpled cloud unfurls mealy mizzens. society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > masts, rigging, or sails > spar > [noun] > mast > mizzen-mast 1589 E. Hayes in R. Hakluyt iii. 685 The Golden hinde succeeded in the place of Vizadmirall, and remoued her flagge from the mizon unto the fore toppe. 1622 J. Mabbe tr. M. Alemán ii. 357 Streamers that belonged to the Main-Mast, the Misne, and other fitting places for them. 1626 J. Smith 13 In great ships they haue two misens, the latter is called the boneauentuer misen. a1661 W. Brereton (1844) 169 This carries four masts..4. the mizen, which is placed in the stern almost over the helm. 1699 in T. C. Smout 292 Our mainmast is brok under deck..and my misond is lost altogether. 1806 A. Duncan 72 Sir Horatio Nelson, as rear-admiral of the blue, carried the blue flag at the mizen. 1851 H. Melville cxxx. 591 Nor, at any time,..could the mariners now step upon the deck, unless Ahab was before them;..pacing the planks between two undeviating limits,—the main-mast and the mizen. 1898 May 218 Her mizzen is tottering and now it falls far out into the water. 1902 23 July 20/3 The name of the masts, by the way, are in order, fore, main, mizzen, spanker, jigger, driver, and pusher. 1950 E. Goudge i. i. 10 Flags fluttered from each foremast, mainmast and mizzen. Compounds1485 in M. Oppenheim (1896) 36 Meson shrowdes. 1485 in M. Oppenheim (1896) 49 Meson lyftes..Meson halyers..Meson perell..Meson shetes..Meson tyes. 1589–1600 f. 53 For one mesene reye xlvi s 8 d. 1600 Court Rec. 26 Sept. in H. Stevens (1886) 17 1 mizen course and bonnett. 1626 J. Smith 14 The mison stay. 1630 J. Winthrop 15 Apr. (1996) 11 We hanged out a light vpon our meysen shrouds. 1660 T. Allin 30 Oct. (1939) (modernized text) I. 3 Set..our mizzen staysail. 1670 J. Dryden & W. Davenant i. 3 Get the Misen-tack aboard. Haul aft Misen-sheat! 1692 N. Luttrell Diary in (1857) II. 456 Hanging white flags..on the mizen peak. 1757 in J. S. McLennan (1918) 209 Fore stay sail, Main and Mizen stay sail all blown away. 1768 J. Byron 206 Which he desired might be hung up in the mizen-shrouds. 1835 J. Ross xlvi. 594 Carrying away the mizen-boom. 1841 R. H. Dana i. i. 4 Mizen royal yard 16 ft. Mizen skysail yard 10 ft... Mizen pole 9 ft. 1879 Dec. 81/2 Angus Sutherland, who was hoisting himself up by means of the mizzen boom. 1905 17 Jan. 4/4 Watching the mizzen truck swing among the stars. 1932 14 Jan. 30/1 Thrice Bill hung head-downwards over the eyeplate below the shackles of the mizzen rigging. 1964 R. E. Lloyd in 228 On again next day with, to our joy, a mizzen staysail breeze. 1999 (Nexis) 14 Feb. E2 It's 103 feet long from the tip of the bowsprit to the end of the mizzen boom. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.1416 |