Thanks for the names!
Yes, a bradawl or gimlet. For making small holes ... sometimes pilot holes before making a bigger hole so that the wood doesn't split.
I wonder if these are different words for the same thing, but derived from different languages? Or via different fields of work.....wood, leather, metal ??
I found this online ..
ReplyDeleteCarpentry
an awl for making small holes in wood for brads (nails).
And ..
Origin and history of gimlet
gimlet(n.)
type of boring tool, mid-14c., gymbelette, from Anglo-French and Old French guimbelet, guibelet (12c., Modern French gibelet), which is probably of Germanic origin, perhaps from Middle Dutch wimmelkijn (with substitute of French diminutive suffix), diminutive of wimmel "auger, drill," which is perhaps from a nasalized form of PIE root *weip- "to turn" on the notion of "That which turns in boring."
Ha, JayCee—we went down the same path 😄
DeleteI know “gimlet” as a drink—looked it up and was amused to see it’s roots are the tool:
ReplyDeletegimlet(n.)
type of boring tool, mid-14c., gymbelette, from Anglo-French and Old French guimbelet,) …perhaps from Middle Dutch wimmel "auger, drill," which is perhaps from a nasalized form of PIE root *weip- "to turn" on the notion of "That which turns in boring."
>>>As the name of a cocktail made with gin or vodka and (Rose's) lime juice, by 1927, apparently originally nautical, presumably from its "penetrating" effects on the drinker (a gimlet was the tool used to tap casks).
Reminds me. of a saying I heard a lo5 in childhood --- "gimlet eyes" as in "don't look at me with those gimlet eyes!"
ReplyDeleteHi GZ. Thank you for visiting my blog and leaving a comment about the camellia trees. Nice to know the name of the tool you found!
ReplyDeleteLanguages are fascinating!!
ReplyDeleteSince you spotted the tool and bought it, I'd be interested in knowing how you plan to use the tool.
ReplyDeleteMaking holes in clay!!
Deletei've never heard of it, but it makes sense.
ReplyDeleteBack to a sharp pointy thing for making holes - I like 'awl' it sounds like it is an old English/skandy word - older, single syllable - and other words arrived with say Normans bringing 'latin' i fluences through french.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the "brad-" referred to what is was used with?
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