Carabiner or Karabiner?

What'd you think?

  • Carabiner

    Votes: 7 20.6%

  • Karabiner

    Votes: 17 50.0%

  • Who cares...

    Votes: 10 29.4%
  • Total voters
    34
  • Poll closed .
G

GT

New member
I know it sounds daft, but in trying to write up some documents the questions been asked! DMM day Carabiner, as do Petzl. Caving Supplies and Starless River say Karabiners.... Any thoughts?
 
Mark Wright

Mark Wright

Active member
I remember having this same discussion a few years ago when we were writing the iRATA International Code of Practice. IRATA went for Karabiner but the ISO Code of Practice use Carabiner.

I always use Carabiner in any documents I write on the subject.

Technically speaking they are actually called connectors.

The long and short is that it doesn't really matter how you spell it so long as whichever spelling you choose is the same throughout the document.

Mark
 
JasonC

JasonC

Well-known member
The advantage of "carabiners" is that they become "crabs" in abbreviation, leading to opportunities for humorous enquiries such as "have you got the crabs, then?", whereas "have you got the krabs, then?" is unambiguous and therefore not funny at all....
 
pwhole

pwhole

Well-known member
Wasn't it originally derivative of 'carbine'? As in a carbine hook? On that basis only (a guess, rather than looking it up) I voted for option 1 ;)
 
G

GT

New member
According to the font of all knowledge (Wikipedia!)...

A carabiner (/k?r??bi?n?r/) or karabiner is a specialized type of shackle, a metal loop with a spring-loaded gate[1] used to quickly and reversibly connect components, most notably in safety-critical systems. The word is a shortened form of Karabinerhaken (or also short Karabiner), a German phrase for a "spring hook"[2] used by a carbine rifleman, or carabinier, to attach items to a belt or bandolier.

 
M

mikem

Well-known member
al said:
I thought that the French spelling was mousqueton??
Click to expand...

The French do like to make up their own words rather than using something from another language (unlike the English who'll borrow anything).
 
B

Barny

New member
Mousqueton is no more made up than the german version. It derives from the french for musket(development of the word appears to be much the same). Probably a word the english language borrowed even before they took up with carbine or similar derivatives. The italian and the spanish use a word spelt much the same so one could surmise that perhaps the greater part of the world's languages use a form similar to the French when referring to biners.
 
M

mikem

Well-known member
Maybe, more accurately, C is the Latin spelling, K the Germanic. K seems to have been around first in climbing terms, but the French have their own version, rather than use a German derivative...

https://gallantry.com/blogs/journal/history-of-carabiners
 
M

mikem

Well-known member
The origin of car(a)bine seems to be even more obscure, but could be from the Greek for CRAB...
https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/etymology-of-carbine-carabin-carabinieri-etc.2016498/

Muskets would come across whilst we had French royalty (a musketoon was a blunderbuss), carbines (which are another form of short musket) probably after the Hanoverians took over...

Mike
 
M

mikem

Well-known member
Although, according to the Dutch, a musketon hook is not the same as a carabineer:
https://nl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musketonhaak
 
ZombieCake

ZombieCake

Well-known member
With a 'K'. Krabs, Karabiners. Crabs are leggy, claw-y things best served with a nice, cool, dry white wine.
 
CavingPig

CavingPig

New member
Following a caving trip to Poland this winter, I now refer to them as Karabinkis. Via ferrata lanyards are now Slinky Karabinkis.
 
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