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>Not something I thought about before, but in the 16C >and early 17C ships had four masts (Fore, Main, Mizzen >and Bonaventure Mizzen), (five with the Bowsprit) when >the Bonaventure mizzen was removed, the mizzen became >the rearmost. > >May be that has something to do with it, but Naval >Archetecture isn't my strong point. > >Cy > >>>i always wondered why there are different names >>>between french and english for a 3 mast squarre >>>riggings >>> >>>in french we have from front to behind >>>beaupres, MISAINE, grand mat, artimon >>> >>>in english >>>bowsprit, fore mast, main mast, MIZZEN >>> >>To clarify, the «beaupres» is the bowsprit, which was >>often referred to as a "mast" during the sail era >>(especially the 18th century and earlier, when it >>carried two square sails that were generally abandoned >>around the end of the 18th century) but isn't counted >>among the masts of a "three-masted" ship. >> >>>the funny thing is that Mizzen seems to come from the >>>italian "MEZZO" meaning "in the middle" ... >>> >>>?? do you have any hints about this MEZZO becoming >>>front or rear mast, i guess around XVe century >> >>French seems to be the outlier here. From John >>Harland, <i>Seamanship in the Age of Sail</i> (except >>Portuguese) >>FOREMAST: >>French: mât de mizaine >>Italian: albero de trinchetto >>Spanish: palo de trinquete >>Portuguese: mastro de proa >>German: Fockmast (Dutch, Swedish, Danish similar) >>MAINMAST: >>French: grand mât >>Italian: albero maestro >>Spanish: palo mayor >>German/Dutch: Großmast/grootemast >>Swedish & Danish: Stormast >>MIZZENMAST: >>French: mât d'artimon >>Italian: albero di mezzana >>Spanish: palo de mezana >>Portuguese: mastro de mezana >>Danish: Mesansmast >>German: Besahnmast (Dutch & Swedish similar) >> >>For English, the <i>Shorter Oxford English >>Dictionary</i> traces the word "mizen, mizzen" back to >>1465 and says, "[Early forms <i>mesan, meson, -eyn</i> >>— Fr. <i>misaine</i> (now fore-sail, fore-mast) — It. >><i>mezana,</i> subst. use of fem. of <i>mezano</i> >>middle; forms with <i>mi-, my-</i> appear in XVI.]" >> >>It looks like it might originally have been in the >>middle but in English, Italian, Spanish, and >>Portuguese it moved aft with the insertion of a "main" >>mast forward, and probably afterwards of the "fore" >>mast, while in French it moved forward with the >>addition of a "grand" (large) mast and then of >>whatever an "artimon" is (or was originally). I don't >>have a French dictionary with etymologies.

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