Yes, and is my sail made of polyester, dacron or Terylene?

Jan: 製作船帆的材料

(that's what good uncle google told me)

That says: "material for making boat sails out of". Chinese is usually more succinct, often quite rudimentary, since it is not such a hybrid as English. In Chinese you can simply say 帆布 (fānbù) a compound word which literally means "sail cloth". Typically, quite precise. My dictionary translates that back into English as "canvas", which is not so precise.

Arne writes good English, sometimes with a "Norwegian accent" so I used Uncle Google too, and looked it up in Norwegian. However, his use of "canvas" does not seem to be an example of Norwegian accent. The nearest I could find is, like the Chinese, (and unlike English) very logical: “seilduk”  - is that right Arne? 

(Makes me think of "duck", which I am old enough to remember, but always found puzzling, so I looked up the meaning and origin of "duck", as well.)

For the record, in Chapter 5 the word "canvas" appears 11 times, all quite correctly I think. There are seven instances of "cloth". There are places where "fabric" might have been an option. But there are also 10 instances where Arne has made his familiar mark on the English language by simply inventing his own compound word: "sailcloth". 

You will also find other useful improvisations such as "hotknife" and "sailplan". Arne complains that we English speakers are inconsistent, because we do that sometimes, and other times, for some unknown reason, we don't. (That's right Arne - and sometimes, like, for example another one of yours: "backside", better not to.)

Well, in the case of "canvas" maybe we should. Perhaps, these days, "sailcloth" (just like  帆布, or seilduk), might be a better word?

In answer to Len and Jan (both Jans)   -    cloth?

I looked the word up and  was amused to find that the English etymology of "canvas" seems to have it as derived from the 13th century Anglo-French "canevaz" and the Old French "canevas" - which in turn are likely to have their origin in the Vulgar Latin "cannapaceus" which means "made of hemp" - most likely derived from the Greek κάνναβις (cannabis). Who'd have thought!

The dictionaries tend to favour the idea of canvas being a fairly heavy woven material, not all of them including synthetic cloth in the definition. Making sails seems to be rather well down in the list of uses. In today's world, of course,  sail cloth can be quite light, especially for junk sails. For some reason I do find it a bit difficult to use the word "canvas" in relation to, say, 70gsm nylon. In the end though, as Len says, for our purpose, the English language doesn't seem to have anything much better to offer. I think it must be correct - but perhaps it's a word that is getting a little bit out of date in the context of sail making. I think I'll stick to "sail cloth".

Back to the subject of this thread : I think all the work that Arne has generously documented over the years, which can be found in the “Technical Section” of the website (here, for the entire volume, in case any new members might not yet have discovered it) is a real mine of information and encouragement. I would call it a JRA treasure.

Thanks Arne.

Anonymous wrote:

A new Chapter 5

It looks good. Makes me want to make a sail today. However, I am rather a long way away from making sails just yet. My first thought was that calling the skin "Canvas" was rather generous but I then failed to come up with any better word.

A new Chapter 5

This last week, I have written an almost completely new version of Chapter 5 of TCPJR, the one about hands-on construction of the sail  (..the original one was from 2011...). Since then, I have made three more sails, using about the same procedure every time. During this period, I have collected heaps of photos, and also learned to make CAD diagrams. Active use of these, and rethinking how to present the construction process, have hopefully resulted in a Chapter 5, which is easier to follow.

Have a look.

Arne