03-15-2014, 01:29 AM
Quote:Ziyâr appears to have meant 'tourniquet' rather than net, it is used in an Arab-derived Portuguese form as aziar (az-ziyâr). This would seem to imply the twisting of strands, or torsion."Tourniquet" is a derivative of the French verb "tourner". "Tourner" means "to turn" and also "to rotate". Maybe the (az-)ziyâr got its name from the windlass:?. This interpretation interferes neither with a counterweight trebuchet nor with bending composite bow limbs.
EDIT
The Arabic term for windlass seems to be laulab (cf. [hide]http://www.ibttm.org/ENG/museum/collection/5-3.pdf[/hide], p.94).
Qaus bi-l-laulab was the term for the windlas crossbow, whereas the large (multi-bow) crossbow was called qaus az-ziyâr (cf. [hide]http://www.ibttm.org/ENG/museum/collection/5-3.pdf[/hide], p. 94f.).
So my theory, that (az-)ziyâr stems from the windlass, apparently is wrong.