Re: spade and shovel (was [romconlang] -able)

ROGER MILLS wrote at 2008-04-18 16:48:13 (-0400)
 > Tim May wrote:
 > >It's not obvious to me that the gardener's tool should have taken its
 > >name from the bricklayer's, rather than vice versa, but the OED
 > >confirms the precedence of the masonry trowel....
 >
 > The mason's trade/art has been around alot longer than careful
 > gardenng :-)))

Perhaps so, but they've both been around for centuries.

 > On occasions I've made a hole for a plant with a stick.

A "dibber". :D

| dibber
|
| 1. An instrument for dibbling; a dibble; especially, an implement
| having a series of dibbles or teeth for making a number of holes at
| once.
|
| 1736 PEGGE _Kenticisms_, Dibble, I think they call it dibber in
| Kent. 1783 _Trans. Soc. Encourag. Arts I._ 112, I..ploughed the land
| very deep, dressed the ground down, and planted with hand-dibbers.

| dibble, n.
|
| An instrument used to make holes in the ground for seeds, bulbs, or
| young plants. In its simplest form, a stout pointed cylindrical
| stick with or without a handle; but it may also have a cross bar or
| projection for the foot (foot-dibble), or be forked at the point, or
| furnished with several points to make a number of holes at once.
|
| c1450 _Nominale_ in Wr.-Wülcker 713 _Hoc subterrarium_, a
| debylle. 1483 _Cath. Angl._ 92 A Debylle, _pastinacum,
| subterratorium._ 1563 T. HILL _Art Garden._ 128 With your forked
| dibble, put vnder the head, loose it so in the earth, that [etc.].

 > >Of course, there is probably a substantial overlap between these
 > >[various] classes of tool.
 >
 > True in casual use, but not in (semi)professional use.

Do you mean in terms of nomenclature, or design?