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#177814 - 06/27/08 12:39 PM Widow's Peak
sudz sudz stranger Registered: 08/13/07 Posts: 3	Etymology of today's entry gives no context to the phrase. Why isn't the railed platform called simply "wife's peak"? There needs to be some explan that so many fishermen died at sea that their women were left widows.
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#177817 - 06/27/08 12:57 PM Re: Widow's Peak [Re: sudz]
BranShea BranShea Pooh-Bah Registered: 06/23/06 Posts: 2089 Loc: Netherlands, the Hague	ETYMOLOGY: In the 18th and 19th centuries sailors' wives used such platforms to look for signs of their husbands returning home. Hello and welcome since I happen to pass here. About the hazards of sailors; could it not be so that since you understand why it is called widow's rail without further context, everybody else does? (the devil's advocate ) _________________________ above all shadows rides the sun (JRRT)
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#177824 - 06/27/08 03:02 PM Re: Widow's Peak [Re: sudz]
twosleepy twosleepy enthusiast Registered: 02/28/08 Posts: 327 Loc: western NY	Originally Posted By: sudz Why isn't the railed platform called simply "wife's peak"? Firstly, the phrase is "widow's *walk", an important correction because "widow's peak" is the term used for a V-shaped point formed by the hair near the top of the human forehead, from a superstition that it meant early widowhood (for a woman). It is a dominant genetic trait (I have one, 2 of my three boys have one, and interestingly, one that does not is a twin!). Originally Posted By: sudz Etymology of today's entry gives no context to the phrase. There needs to be some explan that so many fishermen died at sea that their women were left widows. The quotation from the email is: ETYMOLOGY: In the 18th and 19th centuries sailors' wives used such platforms to look for signs of their husbands returning home.* Since the phrase is "widow's walk", I think the implication is clear that many of them expected to become widows, hence the anxiety about their husbands' return and subsequent walking. ya scooped me, Bran! I guess I took too long composing... :0) Edited by twosleepy (06/27/08 03:04 PM) Edit Reason: scoopage...
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#177839 - 06/28/08 01:08 AM Re: Widow's Peak [Re: BranShea]
morphememedley morphememedley member Registered: 01/16/08 Posts: 137	I suspect there was a precise literal basis for widow's walk, in that some widows whose widowhood was not in doubt would look to sea in mourning or remembrance.
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#177845 - 06/28/08 05:13 AM Re: Widow's Peak [Re: morphememedley]
BranShea BranShea Pooh-Bah Registered: 06/23/06 Posts: 2089 Loc: Netherlands, the Hague	Yes, well, it goes together. twosleepy , I think sudz is making a subtle wordplay here, as the widow's walk is mostly placed at the peak of the building. _________________________ above all shadows rides the sun (JRRT)
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#177848 - 06/28/08 06:51 AM Re: Widow's Peak [Re: sudz]
Faldage Faldage Carpal Tunnel Registered: 12/01/00 Posts: 11596	Originally Posted By: sudz ... so many fishermen died at sea that their women were left widows. Certainly dying at sea was not an unlikely end to a sailor's life in those times, but it may have been just a metaphorical widowhood that the woman suffered, like the modern-day football widow only more so.
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#177851 - 06/28/08 11:34 AM Re: Widow's Peak [Re: sudz]
The Pook The Pook old hand Registered: 02/20/08 Posts: 707 Loc: Tasmania	When learning ancient Greek many years ago I remember for some unknown reason having to translate from English into Greek stupid sentences about dead widows being thrown into the sea.
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#177858 - 06/29/08 01:56 AM Re: Widow's Peak [Re: The Pook]
BranShea BranShea Pooh-Bah Registered: 06/23/06 Posts: 2089 Loc: Netherlands, the Hague	Ah! Real barbarians those Old Greeks. At least the widows were dead. _________________________ above all shadows rides the sun (JRRT)
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#177905 - 07/02/08 02:05 PM Re: Widow's Peak [Re: BranShea]
LukeJavan8 LukeJavan8 newbie Registered: 06/23/08 Posts: 25	I had a widow's peak at the top of my forehead, but alas now my forehead reaches to the crown of my head!!
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#177910 - 07/02/08 09:16 PM Re: Widow's Peak [Re: LukeJavan8]
The Pook The Pook old hand Registered: 02/20/08 Posts: 707 Loc: Tasmania	Originally Posted By: LukeJavan8 I had a widow's peak at the top of my forehead, but alas now my forehead reaches to the crown of my head!! A dead widow's peak perhaps? "God only made a few perfect heads and put hair on the rest..." - Anon
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