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Vocabulary
Brake
Another word which was borrowed from the
farming world! From Middle Dutch "braeke", it was
applied to many crushing instruments, but also to
the ring placed through the nose of a draught ox.
The Italian word "Freno" comes from "frenum", the
instrument, usually made of iron and controlled
with the reins, that is put in a horse's mouth to
control it.
Time
From Old English t
ī
ma (period, space of time,
season, lifetime, fixed time, favourable time,
opportunity). The word "atomus" on the other
hand means "something that cannot be divided".
Time is, in its deepest meaning, the measurable
duration of something that exists, existed or ever
will. In an extended way, is the succession of days
and seasons, the measure of movement, pace,
action from start to finish. "There is a time for
everything" says the Ecclesiastes.
Tire
Or Tyre in British English. It comes from the the
word "attire" "equipment, dress, covering". First, it
identified the iron plates forming a rim of a
carriage wheel, then it started to indicate the
standard rubber component of a bike's (and then a
car's) wheel. The Italian translation,
"pneumatico", comes from the Greek word
“pneuma”, air, wind, vital blow. A tire, intended
in automotive language, is in substance an air
spring. The air, which is usually replaced with
nitrogen in high-level car racing) inflates the tire
and enables its structure to sustain the loads, to
absorb the asperities and let the carcass get
deformed to generate the slip angle and, as a
consequence, the grip.
