Re: What is the word for the stick & handkerchief carried over a vagrant's shoulder?


Douglas G. Kilday wrote:
mb wrote:
Mike Lyle
...
The bundle on a stick
was strictly fairy-story stuff for me, and I never saw the logic of it.

Because you didn't study first-hand the ergonomics of it, based on
Archimedes' principle of the lever.
Try wrapping 3-4 pounds (or more) of stuff in a piece of cloth tied by
its corners and carrying it for a couple hours. The best way to have
your hands free and not feel the weight is a longish stick with the
fulcrum on your shoulder and the free end tucked in the hollow of your
elbow.

Yes. This was known in antiquity. The Latin word for the stick was
<aerumnula>, given by Paulus ex Festo: "aerumnulas Plautus refert
furcillas quibus religatas sarcinas viatores gerebant".

Ah, much better: The good aerumna, as I forgot to mention, must be a
furcilla. The forked tip avoids the sliding down of the bindle. Thanks.

.

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