Catamaran and Trimaran

[JackFrobisher]

We've just watched the trimarans going past the window, down the Thames, heading for somewhere, and a colleague asked me why boats with two hulls are called catamarans and those with three are called trimarans. Why aren't cats called bimarans or something? I did a quick forum search and didn't find an answer. Does anyone know?

 

[Twister_Ken]

Haven't bothered to look this up but as I recall catamaran is an anglicisation of the Polynesian name for a craft with a spare hull. Trimaran comes from treating 'cat' as if it is a suffix, and replacing it with 'tri'.

AFAIK, though, there's no such thing as a 'maran', a boat which has the right number of hulls, i.e. one.

 

[Oen]

Interstingly, 'catamaran' comes from a Tamil word meaning 'tied wood'. Trimaran is a bastardisation of it, though the meaning is clear (though probably not in Tamil!).

 

[bilbobaggins]

Well, when you start off with monomarans, it makes better sense.

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[MarkG]

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Well, when you start off with monomarans, it makes better sense.

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So would a monomoron be the rather stupid skipper of a single hulled vessel??

 

[ex-Gladys]

Can't remember the exact derivation of cat but it's something like catu marram. One means wood and one means raft.... Of course, I could be having a senior moment....

 

[snowleopard]

Look it up...

Here

 

[JackFrobisher]

Thanks all.