Beschreibung
The following four terms or elements of terms designating parts of ships are attested in the Coffin Texts (§1): (1) “starboard” < “that which is on the right (side)”, (2) “bow”, occasionally also “front (part)”, (3) “larboard” and (4) "stern” < “that which is at the smallness/narrowing”, occasionally also “smallness/nar-rowing” alone. All four can be used as terms for the parts of a ship (§1.1 and §1.2). Only two of them (§2) can, in addition, be used as the designation of the two crews of ship / groups of oarsmen, (1) those of the starboard and (3) those of the larboard (§1.3), and, on the other hand, as a designation for the two cardinal directions (1) right/western and (3) left/eastern (§1.4). If (1) “starboard” and (3) “larboard” alone are used, the expressions are as a rule extended with literally “large, great” cardinal points to heaven and earth (§3) as well as in the use of gender with ship’s crews / groups of oarsmen and cardinal points (§4). The etymology of “larboard” etc. remains unresolved (§6).
