for some inexplicable reason I have a block against remembering this word for a shipboard (or dockside?) crane.

the etymology is not helpful: Middle English daviot, from Norman French daviot, diminutive of Davi, David.

David <> crane ??

edit: it occurs to me that a similar word, derrick, might prove to be interesting...

obs. derrick hangman, gallows, fr. Derick, name of 17th cent. Eng. hangman