Why is a gypsy (On a windlass) so named?

[FishyInverness]

Proper Nautical question here, so i'm sure someone here can give a good in-depth answer.

Having just had a very odd conversation with someone claiming the term is insulting (and very serious they were about this too!) - i'm wondering where the origins of the term Gypsy as applied to anchor windlass come from, any ideas?

Wiki seems to just tell you that it's called a Gypsy in the UK (and a Wildcat in the US apparently)...

 

[Rigger Mortice]

Political correctness knows no bounds does it?

I suppose that "windlass" is offensive too? It should be "Windperson"

 

[Poignard]

Because it picks up metal and moves it somewhere else?

 

[FishyInverness]

Both very... answers...Would like to publish the entire conversation, surreal, but as it was in the course of work, I had best not..

If anyone can seriously give any highlight as to where the term came about though, would really appreciate it, we're stumped here!

 

[sarabande]

my mainsheet has a traveller. Should I rename it ?

 

[rickym]

Pikey or diddicoy?

 

[Daydreamer]

Well the word hasn't made it as far as my Oxford Dictionary of English.

But try googling 'Gypsy wheel' or possibly 'Egyptian wheel' where, with a bit of imagination, you may find a possible connection with a segmented wheel.

Just guessing though.

 

[guernseyman]

It may be for the similarity to a gypsy ring - a jewellery ring having the stone set into the ring itself. Take the stone away and you have something that looks like a gypsy chain wheel with just one recess for a chain link.

Just guessing.

 

[FishyInverness]

my mainsheet has a traveller. Should I rename it ?

I think that one is acceptable Sarabande, providing it's rights as a traveller are (over?)respected and it is given an appropriate council liaison to point out to all the other sheets that that's it's way of life and so should not be treated differently in any way other than by being granted inversely proportional minority rights..*ahem*.../rant

Weird isn't it? There doesn't seem to be any firm documented history as to why/how the term came about....

 

[clyst]

Both very... answers...Would like to publish the entire conversation, surreal, but as it was in the course of work, I had best not..

If anyone can seriously give any highlight as to where the term came about though, would really appreciate it, we're stumped here!

it was in the course of work

You are a bailiff at dale farm ??

 

[Trundlebug]

Political correctness knows no bounds does it?

I suppose that "windlass" is offensive too? It should be "Windperson"

...and don't mention Lazyjacks. It's Jackist.

 

[PCUK]

I suppose sea-cock will be offensive to gay clubs next!

 

[Sandyman]

Here's my take on it. May be true maybe not. My sea daddy crossed the bar many years ago so I cant confirm it with him

In past centuries Gypsy would make an annual migration often on the same routes. They would follow one another back and forth along the same route. This became known as a gypsy chain. Hence they went backward & forward on the 'chain'.

 

[FishyInverness]

Thanks Sandyman, yours and DayDreamer's suggestions both seem pretty plausible.

I wonder whether they will appease the interesting individual I had the conversation with!

 

[jsl]

O.E.D. implies...

...that the name derives from a 'gipsy winch', which could be moved from place to place and attached to a post. So perhaps early versions of yacht chain winches were either portable, or so small (compared to a real windlass) that they acquired the old name.

Dull answer, I'm afraid, but there you are. (By the way, nearly all the references to the Romany people under this heading in the dictionary are opprobrious - so to that extent your work colleague was right.)

 

[skyflyer]

Now I understand why my Traveller stubbornly refuses to move!

 

[Rigger Mortice]

I wonder whether they will appease the interesting individual I had the conversation with!

I've usually found that, with things like this, nothing whatsoever will appease somebody who has decided to take a stance on something. The more you try the harder it becomes.

 

[cmedsailor]

it's called a Gypsy in the UK (and a Wildcat in the US apparently)...

and "worker" in Greek

 

[VO5]

I've usually found that, with things like this, nothing whatsoever will appease somebody who has decided to take a stance on something. The more you try the harder it becomes.

Yes, quite...
Those are my sentiments exactly.
I have a very old Nautical Dictionary (published 1920), which is arcanely comprehensive, that I have just referred to.
There is no reference to Gypsy in it.
Therefore it may be a more modern term perhaps ?

 

[PLEIAS]

and "worker" in Greek

Actually that's what the windlass is called and as Greek i would choose labourer to translate ERGATIS, the gypsy is called a female pig (in fact it means nasty whore''skrofa") and the hook we use to secure the chain is a bitch-''skilla'' cause it bites the chain and holds it.