Bridge is an English word which is similar to words in several other languages. Among its ancestors are brycg (Old English), bryggja (Old Norse), bregge (Old Frisian), Brucka (Old High German), bro (Scandinavian). Modern examples are brûck (German), and brig (Scottish).
From pons (Latin) we get pont (French), ponte (Italian), and pont (Welsh). The Pope is often referred to as the pontiff, from pontifex (bridge builder in Latin) via pontife (old French). Hence we sometimes say that a pompous person is pontificating. From pons we also get pontoon, a floating structure. Here is bridge in many languages - bridge brig
bro Brücke brug
brygga gefura Bridges are of many kinds, such as the figurative kind that you don't cross before you come to them, and the kind you burn, which has the same connotation as the boats you burn. Bridges are made by the hands of snooker players, to raise the cue to the correct height: this can sometimes be very awkward. From the bridge of a ship, which often spans the width of the deck, those in command can steer and navigate. An electrical bridge circuit ingeniously allows very small differences or changes to be measured, by balancing two pairs of components, three of which are known. A bonus is that as the detecting device is used to measure a null, it need not be accurate and it need not be linear. Bridges can be used to measure capacitance, inductance and resistance, and any combination of these. In fact, every component is a combination of all three factors, though in practice we usually try to make one of them dominant. Mechanical equivalents of bridges are also useful in making fine measurements. Musical instruments of the violin family have bridges to hold the strings away from the body. The top is curved, so that any one string can be bowed without affecting the others. But by pressing hard with the bow, two or more strings can be sounded at once. The bridge conducts the vibrations of the strings to the body, which transmits them to the air. You could regard the body as a transformer or impedance matching device. Without it there would be little sound. The design and construction of the body has a profound effect on the sound of the instrument, because it is not just a passive object - it has mass and elasticity, and it therefore has resonant frequencies. The maker must ensure that these are not overdamped or underdamped, and must ensure that they do not coincide with tones that the violin is required to produce. A musical bridge passage connects two sections of a piece by transitional material which makes a more or less gradual join instead of an abrupt change of key or theme. Here are links to some examples - Eroica the symphony Eine kleine nachtmusik Beethoven 5th symphony The Euro banknotes include pictures of bridges, perhaps to symbolise the EU as a bridge between the nations. Bridgework is used by dentists to encourage teeth to grow into desired positions. A bridging loan helps people to cope financially with an intermediate period between buying one house and selling another. Some cameras are described by their vendors as bridge cameras, presumably because they are intermediate between single lens reflex cameras with detachable lenses and non-reflex cameras with fixed lenses. Bridge cameras usually have fixed lenses and viewing through the taking lens. |