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Barge A Barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built as a purpose boat mainly for river transport of heavy goods. Most barges are not self-propelled and need to be moved by tugboats towing or towboats pushing them. Barge is attested from 1300, from Old French barge, from Vulgar Latin barga. The word originally could refer to any small boat, the modern meaning arose around 1480. Bark "small ship" is attested from 1420, from Old French barque, from Vulgar Latin barca (400 AD). The more precise meaning "three-masted ship" arose in the 17th century, and often takes the French spelling for disambiguation. Both are probably derived from a Latin *barica, from Greek baris "Egyptian boat", ultimately from m Coptic bari "small boat." By extension, the term "embark" literally means to board the kind of boat called a "barque". The long poles used to manoeuvre or propel a barge have given rise to the saying, "I wouldn't touch that (subject/thing) with a barge pole." This is a variation on the phrase "I wouldn't touch that with a (insert length) pole." It appears that the association with barge poles came after the phrase was in use. Modern usage uses a ten foot pole, but the earliest instances in print involve a forty foot pole, which is improbably long for operating a barge. |
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Sutherland Shire Barges Business Directory and Community Guide |
