Last Sunday, the radio program, "No es un día cualquiera", was held in Logroño (La Rioja, northeastern Spain), and within the program, the Latin teacher, Emilio del Rio, spoke on the word "Tool", because, in La Rioja, there is the WURTH company, which sells tools.
A view of Logroño
The WURTH company
Wurth in Canary Islands
The word “Tool” has several synonyms: useful, utensil, instrument, apparatus, gadget, implement.
Why did Emilio del Rio talk about the tools?, but because he says that we still use the same tools that the Romans used (they used hammers, screws, pliers, scissors, files --or rasps--, saws ...). And Emilio del Rio says that these are called tools because they are made of iron. There were also tools made of copper, bronze, wood; but, etymologically, a tool is made of iron. "Tool" comes from "Ferramenta, Ferramentum, Ferramenta" --which comes from "Ferrum" plus the suffix "mentum", which is used to form nouns--. And what result does "Ferrum" give in Spanish?, then "Hierro" --the "F" becomes "H", as it happens with "Cante jondo", which really is "Cante hondo" -.
Manuel Machado singing Cante Hondo
The one who makes the tools is the Blacksmith --the one who works iron-- . Those who work with tools have a Pattern (Vulcano, who is the "blacksmith God" of Classical Mythology, who worked metals and metallurgy. Vulcano had his forge, that is his factory, on a volcano (Etna) --by the way: there is a famous painting, by Velázquez, entitled "The forge of Vulcano"--.
 by Diego Velázquez a 4,3 cm.jpg)
La Fragua de Vulcano (the Forge of Vulcano) by Diego Velázquez
Another word, related to tool, is: "Horseshoe" (the iron that is put on the hoof of the horse). It is called a horseshoe, because, originally, it was made of iron.
Two horseshoes
A horseshoe around the head of a horse
A horseshoe on a hoof of a horse
The tools are bought in the "DIY shop". DIY shop also comes from "Ferrum". Literally, DIY shop is the shop where iron is sold. And the company WURTH, in reality is a large home delivery DIY shop.
A DIY shop of Wurth inside
A toolbox by WURTH
Another types of tools
The primitive form "Ferrum" is the chemical symbol "Fe".
When something is hard and tenacious, we say that it is "férreo" (“fierce”), which means "iron" - and, since iron is so resistant, hence is where the expression comes from, which means "hard, tenacious" -. For example, in football, we say: "This team practices a fierce defense".
When someone holds on to something with force, we say that person "grips" --literally, it means that "it is held with irons"--.
Another word, which comes from iron, is "Ferrocarril" (Railway) – it is literally "Carro de hierro" (Carriage of iron). First it refers to the road (Lane); but it also refers to the train. According to the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language, it is "A road, with two parallel iron lanes, on which trains roll".
Railway
Two parallel rails
Rails made of iron
The Romans carried the tools by carriage, but not by railway.
Well, as the teacher, Emilio del Rio, should say: “Tempus fugit”, ie: “Time is over” or "Time is flying".
I hope that you will like this article.
Until my next post, kind regards,
Luis.
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