„Siūlas“, „gija“, „verpalas“; „verpti“, „sukti“, „mesti“, „austi“

Jonas Klimavičius

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Jonas KLIMAVIČIUS

Lietuvių kalbos institutas, Vilnius

THREAD, FIBER, YARN; TO SPIN, TWIST, THROW, WEAVE

In memory of dear Mother, stepmother Tetė, Ieva Klimavičienė–Kvietkauskaitė of Kvietkapušis, who, beside the humming spinning wheel, first discerned the thread of my fate, leading me away from my homeland

A. Lyberio „Sinonimų žodyne“ (V., 1980) pateikiama: siūlas, gija, verpalas (1961 m. A. Lyberio „Lietuvių kalbos sinonimų žodyne“ nėra). Dominantė – siūlas „kas suverpta“, o verpalas neaiškinamas. Taip yra dabartinės bendrinės kalbos paprastojoje vartosenoje. Istoriškai ir terminologiškai vaizdas yra gerokai skirtingas, įvairesnis. Čia bandoma pasekti jo sudėtingą klostymąsi. Pradėti reikia nuo verpimo.

1. yarn

Yarn and other synonyms with the same root, in various senses, are known almost throughout Lithuania; only domestic spinning, having lost its once-universal scale, has been in decline for quite some time, and the words are settling, as the poet Justinas Marcinkevičius puts it, beneath the rotted threshold of the homeland or, fortunately, being transferred into modern textiles. The unification of yarn in living speech (dialects) was also aided by the standardization of thread—both homespun and store-bought. So for perhaps twenty years now, the question of emigrants who left the village has been heard everywhere: Why are threads called yarn?

The answer is simple: If it is spun, it is yarn.

According to the data in volume XVIII of the Academic Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language, among Samogitians—Slnt, Grd, Stl—yarn also means 4. “spinning”: He earned bread for himself and the needy by spinning M. Valanč [also verpėlas Tvr; verpėnė Nt, Ggr; verpōnė B 569, R, MŽ, N, Pgg; verpōlė P. Skar; verpōje Kb, Mrc; verpātis Užp, Ktk (and “spinning time” Žmt); vērpatė Ds, Tvr, Ktk, Aln, Sld; vērpetė Tvr, Aln; vērpsena Lnk, Trkn, Šts; vērpšlė Jnšk—thus, variants and

of the Aukštaitians. Consistently, this should be the original meaning of the word verpalas, while the other meanings and the form verpalai are later developments.

Next would come the Samogitian meaning of verpalų—1. “what is intended for spinning, fiber to be spun”: verpalas Kair, Sd, Brs, Krt (There’ll be fiber for her to spin in the evenings Grd), and already on the Aukštaitian side in Vrt, as well as in the distant, isolated Dglš [also verpȳlai Pl; verpōnė K II 196, verpōjė Rtn; verpōjus J; verpātė Lel, Klt, Trgn, Rk, Vj; verpatis Ut, Trgn, verpatis Sug, Ds (verpatis Dglš, Dkk); verpimas Ilg, Slv, Nm, Gs, Brt, Kpč].

Perhaps most widely, verpalai is used in meaning 2, “what has been spun,” among the eastern and western Aukštaitians: Thick yarn cannot be used to weave linen Dkš. As the spinner, so the yarn Grš. Well, the young bride was wealthy: she brought all kinds of fabrics, and even yarn that hadn’t been woven yet Krs. In this meaning, verpalai is also recorded among the Samogitians—in Als—though among the Samogitians verpalas is more common—in Kl, End—as well as in the area beyond Samogitia, in Škn and Grdž [also verpelai B, Vd, Vr; verpelas Rod; verpȳlas Jnš; verpȳlai Klov; verpena V. Krėv; verpinys Pč; verpōnė B 460, MŽ 230, N, K; verpōlė N; verpātė Rgv, Klt, Sv, Ds; verpatis Sdk, Užp; verpastis Ds; verpimas generally singular Vrn, Ig, Rmš, Graž, Kt, PnmŽ, Rs, Er, Kp].

Worth noting is an interesting attempt by Lithuanians abroad to establish verpalas as a technical term—3. “a quantity of spun and wound thread about two cubits in length”: A verpalas consisted of 30 skeins, each skein comprising 30 portos of thread LE XXXIII 439.

Thus they would spin and produce a lot of yarn: They would wash flax for three bathfuls and spin a lot of yarn from it PnmŽ. We spun yarn from that hemp.verpalų verpėm SmIn. I spun a lot of fiber Klt. We were idle all winter, so we spun a lot of fiber Užp.

They would also wind the yarn from the spool onto a warping frame: To wind yarn from a bobbin K I 14, 592. Wind this yarn onto the warping frame Snt (from LKKŽ VII).

Yarn is also set aside for weaving: they weave the length of the garment from white cloth, from linen yarn, down to the ground LKT 393 (Brsl). Isn’t it lovely to see Gryta, having spun enough, sorting the yarn for weaving and bleaching the woven linen K. Donel. And the familiar lines from Maironis’s “Young Lithuania”: The frosty morning no longer scatters snow; it presses, taking one’s breath away, while with clever fingers it weaves little stars of yarn on the windowpane.

And sew with yarn? No! Verpalas means “what has been spun,” not thread. Thread is for sewing. Only later did siūlo broaden in meaning.

2. thread and threads

The original meaning of thread was probably 2. “a not very long end of yarn,” LKŽ XII, perhaps simply “the end of yarn threaded into a needle.” Or perhaps not yarn? Most likely, nevertheless, yarn, since there is also, though it is rare, yarn 2. // “thread”: You pull it out from under the scissors, then stick back on [the broken-off] yarn Jd. Of course, the original opposition yarn ↔ thread has already been greatly neutralized in everyday speech (though not in terminology; see section 10 on this): thread, “sewing yarn,” soon came to mean “yarn” in general (much as needle, “knitting needle,” now primarily means “sewing needle”). Eventually, even sewing thread: The flax has to be spun like sewing thread Rt. Siumaviej [metathesis—a transposition of sounds from siuvamiej] thread Lz. And sewing thread is also used in industrysewing thread LTE X.

Thus, it is customary to spin not only yarn but also thread: Grandmother spins; the thread is thick Dbk. Suosurkėti (i.e. to twist together—to crimp) threads – sukri ai verpta Klt. I won’t love a tailor’s boy; I won’t know how to spin thread LTR (Brt). Linus reikia verptie in siūlų Vidžiai.

To spin into thread—does this mean one of the methods of spinning? A more tightly twisted one?

3. gija and geinys

Very rarely, verpia also occurs with gijas: My little mother told me to spin fine threads RD 1 (LKŽ XVIII). As the spinner, so the thread Krkl (LKŽ III). “Fineness” too is an inherent component of the meaning of gija: siūlas—1. “a strand of finely twisted yarn” LKŽ XII. Gija—“weaving thread” SinŽ, “thread for weaving” A. Sabal LKL 10, 1. “thread (usually warp, in weaving)”: Gija is untwisted, whereas siūlas is twisted J. To thread the gija through the reed K I 416. Many warp threads, little weft Švnč. Also: Separate the threads for the warp and the weft J (LKŽ I,). Look, the designated threads are on the loom, that is, on the warp J (LKŽ VIII). There is still no complete clarity. Some further evidence is provided by gijė “thread for making nets” StngŽ 82, and gijuotas “worn thin (of a garment—

—)”: Sermega yra labai gijuota LC. Skaistgijos, although defined as “certain colored woolen threads for weaving” LKŽ XII, are not illustrated by examples of use in weaving: They cut the linen cloth, sew shirts, decorate it with skaistgijos, embroider with silks (i.e. embroider with chain stitch) Mrj. A linen tablecloth, adorned with skaistgijos Klt. The other examples are unclear: Variegated skaistgijos, or mottled skaistgijos Ss. Skaistgijūnės ribbons Mrj. Etymologically, gija is linked to gysla, although the semantic connection is unclear. P. Skardžius also derives both the word gysla and gija from gyti P. Skar LKŽD 165 and 48, but gija, compared with vija (:vyti, veja, vijo) and sija (:sýti, syja, sijo), does not become any clearer. In synchronic word formation, the suffix –sla is unknown. It gets even more complicated when K. Būga links the words gija and geinys “warp” K.Būga RR III 821. According to LKŽ III, geinỹs 2. “the warp threads of a woven cloth, removed from the warping frame; a warp” is used among the northwestern Eastern Aukštaitians Ps, Slm, Pn, Sml, Anč (geinės Grž). With other meanings, geinys (geinis K)—1. “a device made of ropes for climbing a tree to reach bees” R 227, Lp, Rud, Mrc (geinė Vrn), 3. “a curved stick for playing ripka, driving a pig to the manor; a cudgel, a club” Šd, Sml, Pc [also keinis (and keinys Ar) 1. Akm, Pp, Žg, Jnš, Skn, Pšš, Kdn, Srv (“stick” Šln, Vdk) and keinė Lk; also keinis 2. “a lame person” Tt, Ll, keinius “bow-legged, bandy-legged” Ll, perhaps also keina “larch” Dkšt] and 4. “thin logs tied or nailed together in the water, to which a raft is moored for unloading” Klp (LKŽ V) is linked (K.Būg RR I 494) also to genys 4. “a hook fitted to the leg for climbing a tree or pole; gei-nys” Snt, Lš, whereas genys—also the name of a bird!—is clearly linked to the verb giniti, gena, ginė 1. “to drive,” 2. “to chase” DŽ₃ (cf. Russian гнать, живьё, Sanskrit hánti “strikes”); the same root is also found in ginti, giną, gynė, ganyti, ginčas, ginklas—cf. also geinyti “to persistently ask, to urge” Š, Ds, Švn and keinyti 1. “to curse vehemently; to be angry, to quarrel” Tr, Rk, Ob, Slk, Dkšt, 2. “to plot against, to lie in wait” Tsk.

If one is said to verpalus or gijas, siūlus, threads to vyti, then perhaps there was also ginti, so that geinys “warp” would be clearly motivated—as “a structure formed by driving together several (many) threads” (the meaning of geiniuoti in Ln, “to gather and join the warp threads of a cloth, making loop after loop; to gather thread or rope into loops,” is remote).

This also prompts reflection on a possible connection between gijos and ginti. The former—even as a term for fishing gear!—clearly has ²gyna “a cord with fishing lines; a longline” Plng, GGA 1885,

937 and gynas ‘a thin cord’ Plng. Perhaps gyna or *gina, influenced by its oppositional counterpart vija, could have become gija.

4. Skein and thread

The interpretation of the word geinys ‘warp threads’ and the possible interpretation of gijos associated with it would perhaps also be supported by another meaning of the word gija, one that otherwise puzzles language users and those explaining synonymy—3. ‘a skein, a hank’: Nuimk nuo lankčio giją Pln. Pirkau vilnų giją Dov (also Klp, M.Valanč). But this is surely a collective singular, just like geinys! And just like the spoken word verpalas (later: → verpalai), as in the whole synonym group: pluoštas – plaušas (of flax), sluoksna (of hemp), skara, sruoga (of hair), drieka (of flax), plieka (Spaliai lūžta, o plieka palieka) SinŽ. This meaning of gijos is perhaps primary. The acquisition of both numbers by singular nouns with collective meanings is quite easy—as, incidentally, the word sruoga also shows. 4. ‘thread, yarn’ LKŽ XIII: Netampyk audeklo – gali sutrūkt bent viena sruoga Lg.

5. to spin, twist; to draw out, let out; to rub

And what was the original meaning of the word verpti, and how was it motivated? The most distant semantic past is attested by those of the 13 meanings of verpti that are connected with the related word verti—4. ‘to make a hole, pierce, penetrate’: šaknis verpas S.Dauk; 5. ‘to cut (usually something hard)’; 6. ‘to dig, poke’ // ‘to lift, turn over by digging’ (cf. varpyti); 7. figuratively ‘to touch, push one’s way in’; 8. reflexive ‘to stretch upward, rise’ (the opposite direction!)—cf. varpa, (apyn)varptis, virptis,.... However, later, “the original meaning was ‘to turn’.” A.Sabal LKL 163; this is indicated by 10. ‘to flow (usually rapidly)’: Kraujai eina, tik verpią Tvr; 11. ‘to drift in a snowstorm’; here verpetas (verpetas:verpti = sūkùrys:sukti), virpėti, varpas cannot be separated. Thus the clearest motivation for verpti 1. ‘to make thread by twisting fiber’ (all from LKŽ XVIII) is ‘to twist’. The motivation by twisting is also clearly apparent in the polysemous meanings of derivatives in living speech—those connected with spinning and those unrelated to spinning, but only to twisting, e.g.: verpstė 1. ‘an old spinning tool—a spindle with a whorl [for twisting thread] or a distaff’: Sukas da ana kaip verpstė

LTR (Ds) [also verpstà, vërpstis, verpstukas, verpstukė, verpstelis, verpstelė, verpsčiukas, verpstaitė; varpstė, varpstas, varpstis, varpstelis, varpstukas] and vãrpstė 6. ‘a vertical iron pin fixed in the lower millstone, around which the upper millstone turns’ [also varpsčia, varpsčias, varpstà, varpstas, varpstis, varpsčiukas, varpstėlė, varpstikė; vėrpstė, verpstas, vėrpstis, verpstukas, verpsčiukas, verpstelė, vėrpsnė, verpėnė; virpstė LKA I 141], 7. ‘a small crosswise iron piece fitted into the hole of the upper millstone, on which the upper stone rests; a small knob’ [also varpstė, varpstis, varpstelė, varpstikė; vėrpstė, verpstelis; virpstis LKA I 141], 8. ‘a device (usually a stick with a cord) attached to the iron pin fixed in the lower millstone, by which the upper millstone is raised or lowered; to turn’ [also varpstė, varpstas, varpstis, varstelis, varpstėlė, varpstikė; verpstas, vėrpstė, vėrpstis, verpstelė, verpstuvė; virpstai LKA I 139], 9. ‘a stick for turning a hand mill, a mill handle’ [also vėrpstė, verpštė, varpstys LKA I 137], 11. ‘wheel axle’ K I 38, II 119 [also verpstė Prn, verpstis Kel, varpstis Kel, Vd—LKŽ XVIII].

Verpti The importance of the motivation behind the naming is once again recalled and emphasized by industrial textiles: verpalai—‘threads made of twisted or bonded fiber filaments’ LTE XII 176 (see also section 10).

Verpti The motivation for the meaning is also confirmed by the rare (nowadays!) synonym of verpti, sukti: Ji baigia sukti pakulas SinŽ. LKŽ XIV sukti 17. // ‘to spin, make thread from fiber’: Linus verpia, o kanapes suka VIkv. Tavo motina tokiom verpstėm sukė Rod. Da turiu ratelį, da suku Grdž; susukti 9. // ‘to spin’ Ml, Lp; prisukti 6. // ‘to spin more’ Dg.

Now sukti (siūlus) means ‘to ply together’: Suktas siūlas drūtesnis už vienąteką J.Jabl; suktiniai siūlai Lkv, Km, OG, suktinis audimas Klp, suktinis milas Šts, suktinis divonas Lkv, Tl; dialectal sūktinis ‘fabric woven from twisted threads of different colors’ Prk, BzF 179.

In my view, the motivation involving twisting also applies to trinti 20. ‘to wind thread (onto skeins)’: šeivas trinti // ‘to wind (thread onto skeins)’: į šeivas/ant šeivų trinti.

However, twisting is only the final operation in spinning; first, the thread must be made. This may also depend on the fiber quality of the material being spun, which differs between wool and flax; spinners used to say that the spinnability of retted flax and soaked flax also differs. This making of thread, not counting how—

of flax pulling, perhaps not always named as such. But some things are noteworthy. For instance, driekti 1. “to continue, pull, stretch (something long, coarse, shapeless)” is characteristic of colloquial sentences: Why did you spin it so thin? Slm. Also: You stretched it too much (spun it too thin) — it won’t be strong Slm. These are perhaps not occasional expressions, but relics of antiquity, since there is also a corresponding intransitive verb—drykti 3. “to unravel, come apart”: The wool itself unravels into threads; there is no need even to mend it, for the spinning room is warm Varn. Perhaps it is rather like a spider: The spider stretches its thread from the ceiling onto the table Š (though a spider does not twist). But a spinner also has a drieka: drieka 1. singular “part of a plant suitable for weaving fabrics, fiber, bast”: This year the flax will yield good fiber Užv, driekos 1. “tow” Vž, Krkl, Šts // “flax or hemp fiber for twisting into rope, a layer” Pln (LKŽ II₂).

A spider also lets out a thread, and a spinner does likewise—to let out VI. 2. // “to regulate something moving or sliding onward; determine the character of an action”: Don’t let the threads get lumpy (while spinning), or the thread won’t be strong Šts. Spin, daughter, don’t be lazy; keep your eyes on the distaff. Don’t let the thread be too thick, don’t make it lumpy, don’t twist it into knots RD 91 (LKŽ VII).

Patching, mending, sticking together are merely auxiliary steps in making thread. Thus, it can be stated with considerable confidence that drawing out (letting out) + twisting = spinning. Among the synonyms describing the quality of the thread produced by spinning are sliekti (to spin finely), burbūlyti (to spin thickly), žarnóti (to spin thickly and badly), gurgólinti (to spin unevenly, in lumps), SinŽ—all denote clearly poor spinning; only sliekti stands out somewhat more, J, Rdm, Al, Lp, Lš; cf. also sliekė “a very finely spun thread,” Lš, and other dialects ¹sliekinis 3. “thin, elongated, worm-shaped”: Janson’s carding machine carded wool with paddles and worm-shaped rollers Brž; still others have sliekūotas 3. “with fibers, bristly, streaked, striped”: Wool with sliekūotas Šts (LKŽ XIII).

6. drieka and drika

To wind yarn or thread can be done by spinning, but threads can also be wound; threads can be wound. LKŽ II₂ a hank 3. “a certain quantity (of fiber), a tuft” actually refers not to fiber but to thread, skeins: I brought home a small hank of thread that I had borrowed Šts. Yarn (skeins – J. K.) hank Slnt. The cloth is too wide—separate off a hank or so (warp threads – J. K.) Skd.

Now let us return to driekti 1. “to continue, pull, stretch (something long, coarse, shapeless)” LKŽ II₂. There is a noteworthy sentence here: I stretched the yarns into a drika, winding them onto the warping frame J.

And this leads directly to the derivative with a different ending, drika 1. usually singular “warp, warp threads”: On the warping reel, wind the drika, that is, the warp J. Help me take the drika off the warping frame Skdv (also Gr, Šlv, Up, Trg, Gl) [2. singular “a bundle of warp threads that will not fit into the reed, waste” J, Šk, Šlv and Plng, Plt (areas on either side of drika 1), 3. “a certain number of threads in a skein, a strand”: There are so many drikas in one hank of yarn J].

Drieka and drika also have meanings close to “fabric”—drieka 2. singular “netted fabric” Vrd, drika 4. “net mesh” Šlv, Vrd, Varn, Lk. Naturally, alongside the orderly driekos, drikos (and drikės “a selvage, seam” Gs, Ldvn, Šn, Lnkl) there are irregular forms—drikai, draikai, (pa)draikės, (pa)draikos, drykės; cf. also ³driekotis 2. “to become tangled, matted”: This year the flax has a poor crop—it is very tangled Kal.

***7. mesti ‘to weave’, metmenys ‘warp’ – audmenys ‘weft’, warp threads – weft threads***

Although the words geinys and drika ‘warp’ are still in use, there is no longer *gei- ni ginti* or *driką driekti*, only *mesti* them: I wound on the warp of twelve walls Sml (LKŽ III). He laid the drikas on the loom J (LKŽ II₂). LKŽ VIII mesti 15. ‘to wind the warp onto the warping frame or onto the back of the loom’ [also apmesti 5., įmesti 7., išmesti 17., primesti 12. refl., sumesti 13., 14., užmesti 17.]: I wound several hoops of warp Krok. Of course, mesti is said not only of warp threads, but also of threads, yarn, and weaving, cloth. Two points can be made about the motivation for mesti 15. First, mesti is motivated by letting the threads down—mesti and leisti are synonyms. Second, mesti, which now seems like some kind of disorderly, careless action, has quite a few ‘orderly’ meanings, for example: mesti 3. ‘to let down, sink into water (a net, fishing line, anchor)’, 5. // ‘to put (beets) in to ferment’ Ktk, // ‘to make (a pile), stack’: they stack haystacks Tvr, Lz, 16. ‘to put on, draw (a hoop over a barrel)’ Štk, Šts, apmesti 2. ‘to plant all over (by dropping potatoes one at a time)’ Lp, 7. ‘to sew around, stitch the edge’ Vvi, išmesti 10. ‘to unload (a loaded cart)’, pamesti 10. ‘to set aside, assign, reserve for some purpose’: Set aside some seed

potatoes Stlm, sumesti 3. // ‘to ferment (vegetables) for the winter’ Vdš, Trgn, Užp,...

Metmenys (metmenes, metmens), as well as metmenos, metmenai, metmeniai, are used by the Highlanders. There is also the collective metmuo: Here are the threads assigned to the warp, that is, to the warp threads J. It is possible that this is the original form, like the collective nouns verpalas, geinys, gija, sruoga,... In the northwestern parts of the Eastern Highlander area, apmatai is used (while apmatas means ‘an individual warp thread’: The warp thread is twisted Pc). Among the Samogitians, apmetai Yl, Krkl, Štk, Brs (and K) and apmatai Erž, apmetalai Klp, apmetiniai Plng (apmetinys Rod), and in BB—apmetmens and apmestuvai (LKŽ I₂).

The non-prefixed audmenys Užp, Sl, audmenai Dv are not widely used. Ataudai is known among both Highlanders and Samogitians—Krkl, Brs, Erž (‘weft thread’—ataudas Grg, Ds), ataudos (a feminine form, like gijos) among Western Dzūkians, ataudiniai Plng, ataudiniai siūlai Bsg (LKŽ I₂).

The uniform system metmenys – audmenys may already be very rare; apmatai (apmetai) – ataudai (ataudos) is more common. The most common, established, and also non-uniform system in the standard language is metmenys – ataudai. Besides other examples: Many threads, little weft Švnč (LKŽ III); likewise systems with drika, geiniu.

Cloth, fabric consists of warp and weft, but austi is often contrasted with mesti: He weaves it himself, he throws it himself (he lies) B (LKŽ I₂). Noteworthy: They weave cloth with weft Az (= Azr) (LKŽ I₂).

The original motivation of austi is not entirely clear, but its connection with beating, striking, and banging is undeniable—austi 2. ‘to beat, thrash, card’ // ‘to bang’, 3. ‘to kick, strike with the feet’, 4. ‘to shoot rapidly’, 9. ‘to cough’. This connection is also strongly supported by the loom’s beaters. And mušti 4. ‘to batter, beat’ is illustrated with this sentence as well: I will not know how to beat with the loom (weave) LTR (Glv).

It should be remembered that (pri)mušti is the final action—the weft must first be shot, thrown with the shuttle (shuttle,...): The shuttle shoots, then—clack, clack—it is beaten with the beaters Prn. One hand shoots [the shuttle], the other beats [the beaters] Lp (LKŽ XIV). The motivation of šauti may be ‘to insert, push’, cf. A. Sabal LKL 139, while the later meaning 6. ‘to beat, thrash’ may also have arisen outside weaving [prišauti 6. ‘to beat down (with beaters)’ Ml or atšauti 6. // ‘to beat in (the thread) while weaving’

Grž, Aln have little relevance here—just as mušti 18. “to shoot,” since there is also primušti 11. “to load (a firearm)” LKŽ VIII].

The variant ūsti, ūsta, ūdo “to weave” J, usterėti “to weave a little” J also attests to this connection—usterti 1. “to strike, to thrash in a swinging blow” Nmn, Vrn, Arm, 2. “to tumble down” Vlk. Alongside the words ūdė “weaving” Mlk, Arm, Švnč, Švd, Plš, Trgn, ūdis 1. “a piece of cloth made in one weaving” K, 2. “a certain quantity of cloth” K (Tlž), Niem 31, (pa)ūdėti “to weave a little, to weave a short while” Tvr, Jn, there is also uderė “lining” G 118; ūdyti likely belongs here too: 1. “to scold, berate,” 2. “to urge someone to do something by scolding,” 3. “to tease,” cautiously derived from Slavic in LKŽ XVII—cf. Belarusian эгзіць—but used by both Aukštaitians and Samogitians, except precisely in the borderland and Lithuanian language islands; ūduri “to torment, to trouble” J I 308.

This connection also supports the synonym of weft atbrukai Ds: atbrukti 5. “to beat up”: Atruk lig melynėms Švnč; likewise pribrukti 7., subrukti 7., užbrukti 6. (LKŽ I₂).

8. verpalas → siūlas → siūlai

As stated in section 2, yarn, yarns exist only as long as they are spun. After that come threads: thread is twisted and plied; threads, strands or bobbins are wound onto a warping reel (warping frame, warper, reel, small reel); threads, strands or warp are laid out, several panels or lengths, the weaving, the cloth, the linen is warped; threads are woven (A garment woven from golden curled threads SD 2); threads are knitted, made from threads; Samogitians crochet, even wool: “We crocheted the wool into a crocheted piece” Šts. “A lot of wool is used—a fair amount can be crocheted with two pairs” Krš (LKŽ VIII).

Thus yarn, having first become thread through “sewing yarn,” subsequently also became threads 1. “yarn wound into a ball, onto a bobbin, or into skeins”: The wheel turns, and the threads go onto the bobbins Šlčn.

9. Does a silkworm spin?

A modern meaning is yarns 3. “thin sticky filaments secreted by the glands of certain insects”: Here [wax moths], having found their way in, hatch more and more young, and eventually cover the whole hive with their yarns

S. Dauk. And spiders, sitting in the corners, wove hunting nets from thread, quietly climbing and spinning them K. Donel. And verpalas 5: Small silkworms, yet they cover and adorn altars, kings, and dukes with their thread SP I 313. Likewise verpinys 2: His (the caterpillar’s) shed skin turns into a cocoon spun by the caterpillar itself J. Jabl. Accordingly, there is also verpti 3. ‘to produce a thin, sticky filament (said of the glands of certain insects)’: Our cross spider... has four spinnerets and eight eyes Enc VII 320 (LKŽ XVIII). The larvae of all these insects (bees, wasps, ants) are white, legless; most have silk-producing glands LE XXXIII 116. Also mentioned are the spinning mounds of spiders LE XXXIV 527. Even today, the spinning mounds of certain arachnids, for example spiders, are still mentioned LTE XII, but spinning is now being abandoned in favor of the term silk glands—‘glands of certain arthropods that secrete a substance which quickly solidifies in air, from which a web is woven’ LTE XII. Such threads are also being phased out in favor of filaments, while yarns and threads are products made from these filaments: silk is a natural fiber made from silkworm-cocoon filaments. <...>. The double filament secreted by silkworm caterpillars <...>. A single cocoon contains a filament 3,000–4,000 m long, but only 300–1,200 m can be reeled off. The textile industry uses raw silk threads made up of 5–10 cocoon filaments laid together. <...>. Unboiled, damaged cocoons and silk-production waste are carded and processed into silk yarn LTE X.

There are also mycelial threads 2. bot. ‘structural elements of mycelium (hyphae) made up of a chain of cells’ LKŽ XII.

This accords with the modern textile conception of yarn and thread.

10. Modern textiles: yarn ≠ thread ≠ filament

In modern textiles, threads are ‘thin, flexible, and sufficiently strong products made from fibers, usually obtained by twisting’—‘spun or chemically formed’ LTE X. Primary threads are divided into yarns, multifilament threads, and monofilament threads. Multifilament threads are made of chemical fiber or natural silk and consist of several or several dozen twisted or braided filaments. A monofilament thread consists of a single continuous filament, usually made from synthetic

polymer. Monofilament threads have round or rectangular profiles LTE X. Thus, some threads are not spun. Yarn is ‘thread made of twisted or bonded fiber strands’ LTE XII; this category also includes core-spun yarns—‘strong or fusible chemical multifilament or monofilament threads covered with fibers (usually low-grade)’ LTE XII. Twisting yarns together produces plied yarn; twisting multifilament threads together or with monofilament threads produces plied multifilament threads (...); combining yarn with multifilament threads produces combined threads LTE X.

11. Should “silkworm” be replaced?

Formerly šilkų kirmėlė K. Donel¹, verpėja Kel 1851, 154—is now šilkaverpis (–ys) Š, Rtr, šilkverpis Š, Rtr, BŽ 617 (LKŽ XIV). Silkworms now have only spinnerets LTE X, not spinning spinnerets. They do not spin, but merely secrete a filament.

So perhaps šilkaverpis is not the right word; perhaps it should be called something else? No, terminology too contains such unmotivated yet traditionally used names. On the other hand, a thread does not spin, whereas the true silkworm—Before pupating, the caterpillar secretes a 1,000 m-long silken thread, with which it wraps itself into a cocoon LTE XI. This wrapping is a kind of spinning—cf. įverpti 6. refl. ‘to wrap oneself up, to cocoon oneself (usually said of caterpillars)’: A cocooned caterpillar K II 116. Caterpillars will hatch from the other eggs, but most of them will die before they can cocoon themselves J. Jabl.; išverpti 6. refl. ‘to gnaw one’s way out’ Š, Rtr (LKŽ XVIII).

Conclusions

1. In present-day standard language, siūlas, gija, verpalis are considered synonyms, with siūlas as the dominant term: “what has been spun” SinŽ; “a long, thin, slender yarn made from fibres or filaments (usually by spinning)”: twisted, doubled thread; sewing and weaving threads DŽ₃; gija – “weaving thread” SinŽ, 1. “thread, usually untwisted”: to spin, wind threads; a thread broke while weaving (perhaps the more characteristic figurative senses in standard language are 2. “an object resembling a thread,” 3. “connection, link”) DŽ₃; ver-

palas is not defined in SinŽ; verpalai are “threads spun from fibres”: linen, woollen yarns DŽ₃. In living speech and terminology, things are quite different. This difference can be understood only by tracing the development. The vocabulary of domestic spinning and weaving has been declining for quite some time, although many of its basic words have entered the terminology of modern textiles—selected, and modified where necessary. This decline has given rise to a persistent, unanswered question: Why are siūlai called verpalais?

2. How could it have been otherwise? What one ()spins is verpalas, –ai. Verpalus were not only spun, but also wound and woven. It would be more logical to ask why siūlas, if it is not sewn, is instead spun.

3. The original meaning of Siūlo must have been “the end of a length of yarn threaded through a needle for sewing” → siūlai “sewing yarn.” Later, people began spinning thread and into threads (rare).

4. Gija—“yarn for weaving (usually warp yarn, usually untwisted)”—is related to geinys “warp,” i.e. “a structure made by interlacing several (many) threads”; cf. gynas “thin cord.”

5. Gija “skein” is a collective singular (as are geinys, as well as verpalas, siūlas, sruoga, drieka “sluoksna”, drika 1. “warp” DŽ₃, skara dialectal “fibre,” sluoksna 1. “a small bundle of flax or hemp fibres for twisting into rope,” 2. specialized “a fluffy semi-finished yarn product made of uniform fibres” DŽ₃, fibre, filament). This is most likely the original meaning. And sruoga, as a collective, → “gija, siūlas.”

6. To spin etymologically means “to twist”; there is even a meaning of to twist as “to spin.” Later, as the motivation faded, to spin and to twist could even become semantically disconnected: to spin means only to draw out, let out: “Why did you draw it out so thin?” Slm. Don't let the thread out too thick RD 91. Thus, semantically, to spin =means draw out (let out) + twist. Someone with especially good drawing-out ability (fineness, smoothness) may manage with just twisting: Flax is spun, while hemp is twisted Vlkv.

7. The forms *geinį ginti, *driką driekti have not survived; only the form mesti remains. Mesti, which now seems to denote a disorderly, careless action, has long had quite a few “orderly” meanings: to cast a net; dialectally, to ‘heap’ a pile, to unload a cart (‘unload what has been loaded’), to ‘put aside’ potatoes for seed, to ‘put together, ferment’ cabbage.

8. There is also the collective metmuo. The forms audmenys, audmenai are not widely used. The homogeneous system met-

the warp – warp threads may now be very rare; more common is warp threads – weft, weft threads, while the most common (both in standard language and in terminology) is warp threads – weft.

9. Weaving is often contrasted with throwing: He weaves himself, he throws himself (lies) B. He weaves cloth with warp threads Azr. The original semantics may be indicated by meanings of weave such as “beat, thrash; strike,...”, compare I won’t know how to beat with the little loom Glv (compare also beaters); likewise, ūsti (ūsta, ūdo), a variant meaning “to weave,” is related to uderė “lining”; perhaps also ūdyti, and atbrukai “weft,” abrukti “to beat up.”

10. The association of the spindle with thread came to be linked not only with winding but also with spinning, giving rise to terms for false spinning as well—silkworm, spinning glands. These persist in ordinary (and poetic) language, whereas scientific language now uses silkworm filaments, cocoon filament (while thread and yarn are products made from those filaments). Although the usage is not entirely consistent—the silkworm itself remains; the term can even be motivated to some extent by the fact that it wraps a cocoon around itself, while the caterpillars spin themselves in (“wrap themselves in”).

11. In modern textiles, thread may also be non-spun: monofilament—a silkworm filament or one formed chemically (without twist!) with a round or rectangular profile; multifilament—made from these, twisted or braided. Yarn is made from twisted (or bonded) fiber hairs. This kind of thread (monofilament or multifilament) and this kind of yarn are primary thread. Twisting thread together with thread produces twisted thread; twisting yarn with yarn produces twisted yarn, and yarn with multifilament thread produces multifilament thread.

Thus, in terminology, not every thread in ordinary language is a thread, while yarn is only a spun thread.

Received 1998-06-09

Abbreviations

K. Būg RR – Būga K. Rinktiniai raštai. V., 1961, T. 3.

DŽ₃ – Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas. V., 1993, III leid.

Enc – Lietuviškoji enciklopedija. K., 1939, T. 7.

LE – Lithuanian Encyclopedia. Boston, 1961, Vol. 33. 1961, Vol. 34.

LKA – Lietuvių kalbos atlasas. V., 1977, T. 1.

LKŽ – Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language. Vilnius, 1968, vol. 1, 2nd ed. 1969, vol. 2, 2nd ed. 1956, vol. 3. 1959, vol. 5. 1966, vol. 7. 1970, vol. 8. 1981, vol. 12. 1984, vol. 13. 1986, vol. 14. 1996, vol. 17. 1997, vol. 18.

Abbreviations from this dictionary are also used in the article.

LTE – Lithuanian Soviet Encyclopedia. Vilnius, 1983, vol. 10. 1983, vol. 11. 1984, vol. 12.

A. Sabal LKL – Sabaliauskas A. Lietuvių kalbos leksika. V., 1990.

SinŽ – Lyberis A. Sinonimų žodynas. V., 1980.

P. Skar – Skardžius P. Lietuvių kalbos žodžių daryba. V., 1943.

The numerals throughout indicate years, volumes (in Roman numerals), and pages.