Subject: folk etymology
From: Ernie Wright <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 22 Oct 1995 00:50:35 -0400 (EDT)

Eric Fleischer wrote:

>     Just to throw my own 3 cents into this off topic conversation,
> there were several series of lighter-than-air ship. The "B" series
> did not have a rigid frame, hence were "limp". The "D" series did
> have a rigid frame. The names came from the "B"limp and the "D"rigid, 
> hence the blimp and the dirigible.
>     BTW, my Webster's unabridged does not list the derivation of
> either of these terms. Anyone got an OED?

I wish I did, but my Random House Unabridged says

   dirigible
   n.    1. an airship.
   adj.  2. designed for or capable of being directed, controlled,
            or steered.
   [1575-85; 1905-10 for n.; < L dirig(ere) to DIRECT + IBLE]

and my McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology refers to
this origin of "dirigible" and gives the full reference as "dirigible
balloon," the implications of which are clear.  No one seems to have
a good origin for "blimp," except some story about it referring to
the smaller size of non-rigid airships relative to their rigid pre-
decessors.  My own guess is that it's a member of the "blip, bleep,
blink" family of small things.

LW content:  The Zeppelins, including the Hindenburg, were rigid, so
Smoothing OFF.  Blimps, e.g. the Goodyears, are non-rigid, Smoothing
ON.

- Ernie

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