Shell and other words for “Boat” – Defining Rowing Series Part 2

Welcome to part 2 in World Rowing’s “Defining Rowing” series aiming to help spectators and athletes alike brush up on some of the sport’s most used but least understood words and phrases.

In part 1, we took a look at the words “oar” and “blade”, tackling head-on the questions: Is a blade a knife? (no) and is an oar a paddle? (it depends on who you ask).

In this second article, our focus turns to the boat itself. From “shell”, “scull” and “skiff” to “dory” and “dinghy”, English has no shortage of words for rowing boat.

BOAT (and SKIFF)

Meaning

A “boat” is any floating vessel (container with sides) used to carry people or things across water.

History

“Boat” is probably the most common English word used to describe the vessel in the sport of rowing, but it is also the least specific to the sport itself. This means that although a boat might be propelled by human-powered oars (rowboat), it might just as well be propelled by wind-powered sails (sailboat), or anything else for that matter such as a petrol-powered motor (motorboat).

Other connections

English “boat” is related to “bateau” (French) and “battello” (Italian), “boot” (Dutch) to name a few. There is also a specific rowing connection in “batel” (Spanish), a specific type of traditional fixed-seat rowing boat of four rowers and a coxswain with an oar each (the coxswain’s oar serves as a rudder) still raced today.

All of these ultimately seem to come from an ancient word meaning “to split”, perhaps referring to splitting apart wood by hollowing out the insides to form a boat.

Boat vs. Ship

A sizable distinction in English is that a boat is usually small compared to a larger “ship”. In fact, the word “skiff”, which today means a small boat in English, seems to stem from the same root as “ship”. Interestingly, even though the root of “ship/skiff” appears to be a different word from “boat”, it may also have had a similar “splitting” meaning.

In some languages, such as French, “skiff” specifically means a rowing boat containing one rower. In English such boats are called single sculls (more on sculls below and next month).

SHELL (and SCULL)

Meaning

In rowing, the word “shell” describes the familiar narrow, thin-hulled boat used for flat water disciplines of the sport.

History

English “shell” means a hard covering. Along with the thinness of their outsides another feature of shells is that they are often containers. In fact, like “boat” and “skiff”, “shell” seems to come from yet another word for cutting, perhaps because shells can be split apart to reveal what’s inside. We see this idea again in the unrelated word for the outside of a boat, “hull” that means the shell of a nut or a pea pod.

Rowing Shells vs. Eggshells

Because of the thinness of their hulls, you might hear rowing boats compared to eggshells. Like an egg, the outside of a rowing boat seem impossibly thin for the work it has to do of holding up a rower or rowers determined to move as fast as possible while keeping the space inside the boat separated from the water outside of it. Coaches frequently warn rowers that a misplaced step into a shell could easily see a rower put their foot right through the bottom of the boat. Fortunately, modern materials make this less of a problem.

Scull (preview)

Another common English word for a rowing shell is “scull”. Check back again next month for more about “scull” (a type of oar) and “sculling” (a way of moving the boat) when World Rowing takes a deep dive into the meaning and origins of this fascinating word used to describe activities as diverse as swimming, ice skating and rowing. We’ll also look at the more familiar companion word “sweep”.

Around the world

Rowing, of course, is a global sport and even though English is World Rowing’s official language, rowers speak a multitude of languages.

How do you say “boat” in the language(s) used where you row? Be sure to share on World Rowing’s official channels and some of these will be highlighted in future when we look at rowing words and phrases from around the world.