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It not fool proof, the closer the archer, the stronger the bow, the sharper the arrow head, and of course the heavier or lighter weight of the silk garment...
just as "bullet proof" vest worn by the police are not 100% bullet proof, so too, silk was not perfect.. but experments with modern arrow, (steel tipped) shot at manikins, a heavy weight silk serge was intack, more than 50% of the time. it was referenced in Natural History, but the article is not available on line (NH only prints select articles..not the whole zine.)
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being AWAD, anyone can take this off topic, and include words that are copyrighted names of modern synthetic materials.. but such made up words like nylon are less interesting than say cotton
cotton--ME: cotoun, OFr: cotonfrom the italian? cotone but definately from the AR: qutun (? Egyptian?)
since cotton is a tropic plant, it wouldn't grow in most of europe, (and the mediterranian climate, isn' right for it either. it could and did grow in river vallies, (tigres, Nile, etc) where irrigation provided the right level of water at the right time..) it was an exocitic import in europe for ages and ages, and many cotton fabic names reflect this
Damask (heavy cotton, with design woven in)
muslin (a simple plain weave cotton)
even towel a cloth for washing goes back to IE!
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wool is an other old word, and it too, goes back to IE... changing along the way
In ME: it was wolle, <OE: wull, akin the Ger: wolle, <the IE base is *wel-, hair, wool, grass, > which in latin is villus, vellus(which in English brings us Velvet), and lana--related to the greek lenos.
the lana/lenos.. also has come into english, as lanolin, the oil/grease extracted from sheep's wool.
Wool was highly prized for several characteristics.
It took dyes very well. natural wool, like some of the new synthetic fibers in hollow, which means wool can still offer a good deal of insulations, even when wet.
and even slightly damp wool is extremely fire resistant. when one cooked over open fires, having a wool skirt or apron was an important safety factor.
and it does naturaly come in several colors, from almost a pure white, to almost black, with several shade of brown, red, (auburn)and grey.
like all natural fabrics, it is very effective in wicking away persperation, and so often feels cool on the skin.
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Again, Helen, fascinating info on silk! This kind of information blows me away every single time. Makes me want to go rent a bow and arrow, set up a scarecrow out in the field, drape him in silk, and run a little experiment.
Course that would depend upon my ability to hit said scarecrow, and therein lies the rub. I ain't exactly your most coordinated archer on the team!
Bow regards,
WW
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such made up words like nylon are less interesting than say cotton
From a word point of view (this being a word-site), the word nylon is interesting. One site notes two opposing views (each with citations, not here quoted; emphases added):
The word is a generic word coined by the du Pont Co. It is not a registered name or trademark... We wish to emphasize the following additional points: First, that the letters n-y-l-o-n have absolutely no significance, etymological or otherwise...
but a much more interesting alternative, from The Origins and Development of the English Language:
"'Nylon' may not be quite etymologyless. ...
when the material was first developed, it was called 'polyhexamethyleneadipamide'.
Realizing the stuff needed a catchier name than that, the company thought of 'duprooh', an acronym for 'Du Pont pulls rabbit out of hat',
but instead settled on 'no-run' until it was pointed out that stockings made of the material were not really run-proof.
So the spelling of the word was reversed to 'nuron',
which was modified to 'nilon' to make it sound less like a nerve tonic.
Then, to prevent a pronunciation like 'nillon', the company changed 'i' to 'y', producing 'nylon'.
Thus beneath that apparently quite arbitrary word lurks the English expression 'no-run'".
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there was a recent article in the NYTimes (june 16th of this year) about crossing spider genes with goats, in hopes that the goats milk would contain the proteins for the spider silk, with could then be extracted..
modern day nylon is spun out of spinnets, the ideas taken from how spider spin their silk
spider silk is stronger than steel.. so its not really too surprizing silk is strong as it is! spider silk, and real silk are extremely fine fillaments, but they have wonderful tensil strenght. and when spun into thread, and woven into yarn, they are extremely strong! but, they can be cut.. ( ok, if you take a filament of silk, and gently stretch it.. either by pulling on the ends, or by securing the ends, and pressing down on the middle, it is stronger than steel) but if you place a sharp edge against it, it cuts, very clean (almost perfect right angles when views through a microscope)
so an arrow striking the cloth, is like force like the first, hanging or pulling, it testing the tensile strenght, and the silk resist very effectively. but a scissor, is cutting.. modern arrow come with several different heads.. the classic arrow shape (flat blade, with beveled edges ) is sometimes sharp enought to cut the silk, but most often the silk reacts as if the arrow head were a series of steps, and each step is just pushing, putting presure on the threads.. and silk resist this presure very effectively.
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Keiva: You were banned for starting a flame war and refusing to quit.
You use threats to get Wordsmith to re-instate you. You are contemptible.
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Keiva: Now matter how you post, you cannot cnange the fact that you used extortion to obtain re-instatement after being banned for starting a flamewarand refusing to stop adding fuel to it. You are contemptible. See what Anu Garg had to say…. http://wordsmith.org/board/showflat.pl?t=&Board=announcements&Number=72021
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France was famous for its textile mills, and several fabrics still have names based on there french origin
as mentioned about serge is a stong twilled fabric with a noticiable diagonal rib, used for suits and coats..
in De Nîmes,(France) a heavy cotton serge was produced.. useful for sail and tents, it went all over the world.. it is now better known as Denim
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Another word that betrays a IE root..
starting in LME, as tapsterie, and earlier, tapicerie, <MFr: tapisserie <OFr: tapis,, carpet, it prob. came from the Iranian taftan, to twist, to spin.. from the IE *temp-, to stretch..
tapestries are not woven on the same sort of looms as most cloth, but on stretchers..
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