hammock
A hammock is a place to rest and sleep made of mesh or cloth fabric, which is stretched between two attachment points so that a sagging surface is created. Hammocks were already in use in Latin America , but also in England , before they were discovered by the Europeans , and were later used as space-saving beds in shipping . On land, the raised suspension offers protection from dangerous animals, dirt and moisture. Meanwhile, hammocks are spread all over the world and serve as a relaxing place to lie down, not only outdoors.
history
Word origin
The development of the word hammock is a typical example of a folk etymology or pseudo- etymology . The origin is the name of the Taínos in Haiti for their sleeping nets, which are called hamáka .
Columbus got to know the hammock on his travels to America. On October 17, 1492, he noted in his log book : “Beds and blankets on which those people slept are a kind of woolen netting”, on November 3, 1492, there is explicit mention of “hamacas”.
In the German language, the word first appeared in 1529 as Hamaco or Hamach . The word, which sounds too foreign to the Germans, was converted to hammock through phono-semantic alignment , a word that resembles the root word Hamach in pronunciation and also provides an apt description of the matter (hanging sleeping mat). The English name hammock or French hamac clarify the origin of the word.
Europe
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In the older literature, the invention of the hammock was variously attributed to the Athenian general Alkibiades († 404 BC). According to Plutarch , Alkibiades is said to have hung his bed by ropes on his galley for convenience. Other ancient sources mention the use of "hanging beds" to promote sleep or health, but also do not provide any details about their nature.
In Hexateuch , a manuscript from the 11th century, the biblical Joseph is depicted sitting in a simple vehicle, the structure of which appears to consist of a hammock, as the “second chariot ” of the pharaoh (i.e. vice-commander).
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The hammock first appeared in its function as a hanging bed in the English Luttrell Psalter around 1330 . The hanging cloth ends in fastening knots that anticipate the rings of the later ship's hammock. The fabric is already made of canvas and not the netting that the Spaniards later found in the New World . The Royal Navy ordered proven for the first time in 1597 hammocks cloth. Since these were initially referred to as "hanging cabins or hanging beds", the Dutch technical historian André Sleeswyk hypothesizes that it was the English fabric version that spread in the European navies in the 17th century until it was finally given the same name as the net hammock that Columbus had imported from America.
However, as early as 1589 and 1595–96, hammocks on English privateers who operated in the Caribbean were recorded on board inventory (the latter operation also included royal warships). However, these were referred to as " Brasill beds", which indicates the Native American netting. The maritime use of this variant in particular was initially limited to the tropical climes due to the poor thermal insulation that a hammock offers on a cool night at sea .
Types of hammocks
Hammocks can be subdivided into cloth hammocks and net hammocks according to the type of surface they lie on . Cloth hammocks are mainly found in North and South America. The traditional net hammock has its origins in Mexico .
In addition, cloth or net hammocks with or without spreader bars are offered. These keep the lying surface open, but if the weight distribution is off-center, they can cause the entire lying surface to twist around the suspension points and the user to fall out. Hammocks with spreader bars are mainly found in North America.
Traditional Mexican net hammocks have no spreader bars and consist of a multitude of thin, knot-free, intertwined cotton threads. This creates a fine-meshed fabric, the individual threads of which are not very durable, but which as a whole can withstand considerably more weight than a cloth hammock due to the load distribution on a large number of threads. The knot-free design allows the fabric to be adapted to the body shape, which in conjunction with the fine-meshed fabric creates a high level of comfort.
In addition, net hammocks are made from thicker cord , in which the fabric is tied with knots. The Schotstek is used when knotting . The lying comfort depends on the mesh size and knot size.
A rare type of hammock are those made from Moriche palm trees by the Warao Indians of the Orinoco Delta in Venezuela, which are said to have a long shelf life if they don't get wet. It takes practiced hands about 2 months to produce this type.
For hammock camping, hammocks are available that protect the user from insects with a mosquito net and from rain with a tarpaulin and thus serve as a tent replacement.
While a hammock is stretched horizontally, a hanging chair hangs vertically on a hook.
A hammock on a support bar for two carriers was also used as a replacement for a litter in the past . This made it possible to transport people over rough terrain and sleep during transport.
Baby hammocks are specially adapted to the needs of babies.
Hammocks in the shipping
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Since the discovery of America by European seafarers, hammocks have traditionally been used as sleeping accommodations on ships. The swaying of the ship is offset by the movement of the hammock; the sailor does not slip out of the hammock in rough seas, as would be the case with a bed. The hammock can be stowed away to save space when not in use. The limited space on ships is then available for other purposes.
In a German marine science document from 1901, hammocks are represented as the hanging beds of sailors of warship made of canvas with linen at the ends that are united by rings. These rings are used to hang the hammocks on hooks on the deck beams to rest at night. The size of the hammocks is usually 2 m × 1 m. The lowest point is about 1 m above the ship deck. In the hammock there is a horsehair mattress in a cover and a wool blanket. During the day, the hammocks are removed from the deck and rolled up with the mattresses and woolen blankets and stowed in ventilated hammock boxes or netting boxes. These boxes are located on the top deck outdoors.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Christopher Columbus: log book. Insel Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 2005, p. 66. Spanish: "y sus camas y paramentos de cosas que son como redes de algodón;"
- ↑ Christopher Columbus, Bartolomé de las Casas, Oliver Dunn, James Edward Kelley: The Diario of Christopher Columbus's First Voyage to America, 1492-1493. University of Oklahoma Press, 1991
- ^ A b White, Lynn (1970), pp. 428-431
- ↑ Thomas Dudley Fosbroke (1825): Encyclopædia of Antiquities, and Elements of Archeology, Classical and Medieval , Vol. 1, London, p. 270
- ↑ Plutarch : Life of Alcibiades , 16.1 (Eng.)
- ↑ Pliny the Elder : Naturalis historia , 26.9 (“suspendendo lectulos”) ; Aulus Cornelius Celsus : De Medicina , 3.18 ("suspensi lecti")
- ↑ Chowdharay-Best, G. (1973), p. 234
- ↑ Sleeswyk, André W. (1990), p. 361f.
- ↑ a b c d e Sleeswyk, André W. (1990), p. 362
- ^ Blomfield, R. Massie (1911), p. 144
- ↑ a b c Glasgow, Tom (1973), p. 352
- ^ Foss: Marinekunde , page 13 u. Fig. 17 of the 5th edition from 1901, Verlag Union Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft - Stuttgart, Berlin, Leipzig
literature
- Blomfield, R. Massie (1911), "Hammocks and their Accessories," in: The Mariner's Mirror , Vol. 1, No. 5, pp. 144-147
- Chowdharay-Best, G. (1973): "Hammocks", in: The Mariner's Mirror , Vol. 59, No. 2, p. 234
- Glasgow, Tom (1973): "Hammock", in: The Mariner's Mirror , Vol. 59, No. 3, p. 352
- Sleeswyk, André W. ( nl ) (1990): “The Origin of the Hammock”, in: The Mariner's Mirror , Vol. 76, No. 4, pp. 361-362
- White, Lynn (1970): "The Origins of the Coach", in: Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society , Vol. 114, No. 6, pp. 423-431
