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piombatoi

English translation: murder holes [or meurtrières]

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Italian term or phrase:piombatoi
English translation:murder holes [or meurtrières]
Entered by: Tom in London

13:07 Mar 13, 2012
Italian to English translations [PRO]
Archaeology / describing something on the battlements of a castle
Italian term or phrase: piombatoi
what are piombatoi?
Kenneth James Giles
Italy
Local time: 06:35
murder holes [or meurtrières]
Explanation:
for an explanation, see here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder-hole
Selected response from:

Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:35
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +3murder holes [or meurtrières]
Tom in London
4 +2machicolation
Laura Cecci Dupuy
Summary of reference entries provided
Piombatoio or piombatoia in Italian
Barbara Carrara
Howard Sugar

  

Answers


4 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
murder holes [or meurtrières]


Explanation:
for an explanation, see here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder-hole

Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:35
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 63
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Barbara Carrara: Also known as machicolations (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machicolation)
2 mins
agree  Colin Rowe: Appears from the references to be more specific than the generic "machicolation", but has the advantage that people will actually understand what it means!
29 mins
  -> Thanks Colin.
agree  EirTranslations
6 hrs
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8 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
machicolation


Explanation:
See :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machicolation
A machicolation is a floor opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement, through which stones, or other objects, could be dropped on attackers at the base of a defensive wall. The design was developed in the Middle Ages when the Norman crusaders returned. A machicolated battlement projects outwards from the supporting wall in order to facilitate this. A hoarding is a similar structure made of wood, usually temporarily constructed in the event of a siege. Advantages of machicolations over wooden hoardings include the greater strength of stone battlements, as well as the fireproof properties.





Illustration of machicolations in use
The word derives from the Old French word *machecol, mentioned in Medieval Latin as machecollum and ultimately from Old French macher 'crush', 'wound' and col 'neck'. Machicolate is only recorded in the 18th c. in English, but a verb machicollāre is attested in Anglo-Latin.[1] The Spanish word denoting this structure, matacán, is similarly composed from "matar canes" meaning roughly "killing dogs", the latter being a reference to infidels.[2] A variant of a machicolation, set in the ceiling of a passage, was colloquially known as a murder-hole.

Machicolations were more common in French castles than their English contemporaries, and when used in English castles they were usually restricted to the gateway, as in the 13th-century Conwy Castle.[3

La piombatoia (o caditoia) è una buca a forma di feritoia fatta negli sporti delle rocche, nei ballatoi delle antiche fortificazioni, nelle volte delle torri e, talvolta, anche in abitazioni private. La funzione delle piombatoie consentiva la tattica militare della difesa piombante, la quale consiste nel far cadere sul nemico assediante (oramai prossimo alle mura difensive), sia liquidi infiammabili o bollenti, sia materiali solidi come laterizi o pietre.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piombatoia

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Note added at 9 min (2012-03-13 13:16:14 GMT)
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Machicolations

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Note added at 18 min (2012-03-13 13:25:22 GMT)
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In French = mâchicoulis

Laura Cecci Dupuy
France
Local time: 06:35
Native speaker of: Italian

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Colin Rowe: This would appear to be the most direct equivalent of the Italian.
21 mins
  -> Thanks, Colin.
agree  Howard Sugar: When the world was younger, the principal defence against attackers was the castle, so effective before the age of gunnery that the only way to subdue it was to undermine its walls. To stop the enemy doing this, defenders evolved several techniques, one o
1 hr
  -> Thanks, Howard.
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Reference comments


7 mins peer agreement (net): +1
Reference: Piombatoio or piombatoia in Italian

Reference information:
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piombatoia

Barbara Carrara
Italy
Native speaker of: Native in ItalianItalian
PRO pts in category: 32

Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
agree  Colin Rowe: Secondo a Wiki, anche "caditoia" / Nice site!
23 mins
  -> Già. E se lo dice Wiki... Grazie Colin. Here's a ref. for caditoia, http://www.mondimedievali.net/Glossario/caditoia.htm / Isn't it just!
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1 hr
Reference

Reference information:
With its huge, menacing tower, watchbox, and multiple tiers of battlements (replete with arrow loops and machicolations concentrated over entrances), the building is fiercely defensive in look and capability, and it could as easily -- perhaps more easily -- be called a fortress.
The Renaissance Quarterly, Dec. 1999. The author is describing the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence.
The word came from the Old French machicolor, a compound of Provençal macar, “crush”, and col, “neck”, a graphic description of the result of being bombarded with stones from on high while you were trying to dig.

Howard Sugar
Italy
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
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