Simpering Sampers, Batman!

[Terry McGee]

You're right, Robin. The good people of Gotham City have suffered enough. We need to track down the etymology of that word before the Joker does. To the BatLibrary!

 

Anyone know where the expression "samper" comes from?

 

Tim Shopen was a clawhammer banjo player in Canberra, and a linguist by profession. His old-style banjo didn't have the modern tensioning arrangement and the skin was too loose, so I suggested we put in a "shim". Tim was intrigued by the term which he was clearly unaware of, being of an academic rather than practical background. He was even more intrigued when he learned that, at least according to some theories, shim is a combination of she and him. He went off mumbling "shim" to himself, rather reminiscent of Toad mumbling "poop, poop".

 

Terry

[malcolm clapp]

My guess would be that samper is/was a sometime mis-hearing or mis-spelling of "damper" (though not, of course, related to the word "damper" as commonly refered to in Australia, which would result in a pretty crumby action )

 

I tend to use Colin Dipper's description of these as "currants". And incidentally the leather screwed to the end of action rods he generally refers to as "woggles"; a mis-spent youth in the Scouting movement* presumably....

 

(*Edited for political correctness, though it was the Boy Scouts back then, I'm sure!)

Edited April 4, 2014 by malcolm clapp

[alex_holden]

Post deleted.

Edited April 4, 2014 by alex_holden

[Terry McGee]

I don't suppose a samper is the technical term for the hole in the washer.....

[malcolm clapp]

Post deleted.

Edited April 4, 2014 by malcolm clapp

[Mike Franch]

Well, "samper" only seems to show up on the Internet in connection with concertinas. Several online dictionaries didn't have it, nor does my Webster's New International Dictionary (1933). I don't have access to an Oxford English Dictionary, but I think that would be the next place to look.

[Jack Campin]

OED says "samp" is a mainly-American word meaning broth or porridge.

[Pete Dunk]

[nerd] I've no idea where the word originated and it has been decried on this forum many times in the past but if the OP wants to know what the word samper is meant to describe then it is the small leather disc that is stuck in the middle of the back of a concertina pad. The leather 'woggle' or 'doughnut' or 'washer' on the end of the lever makes contact with the pad at this point. Some people glue the two together, others apply a thin strip of leather over the leather 'woggle' or 'doughnut' or 'washer' and stick the ends of the strip to the back of the pad either side of the 'samper'

 

Whichever method of attachment is used the whole idea of the leather to leather bond is to allow a good bit of flexibility for the pad to seat properly and allow for slight mechanical inaccuracies that might otherwise lead to a poor seal around the pad. [/nerd]

[Terry McGee]

Thanks tallship. I was happy about what it is, just puzzled by what it's called.

 

I wondered whether it was French (je sampe, tu sampe, etc), but Google translate didn't recognise it. It did wonder about it being Spanish, but only offered "samper" as the English translation.

 

How do we know the term, perhaps the secret lies there? Can anyone point to a document or drawing where it is named?

 

Or if you inconveniently forgot the term, and had to come up with a new one based on function, what would you call it? Do we see it predominantly as a "spacer", a "connection" or "attachment point", or what?

 

Terry

[Mike Franch]

How do we know the term, perhaps the secret lies there? Can anyone point to a document or drawing where it is named?

Now, that's a proper historical method. What is the oldest usage, the presumed first appearance for the term? It might not tell us where the word comes from, but it would at least tell us how far back it goes. Alternatively, can we find another term or other terms used for what is now called "samper"?

 

I really should be practicing now . . .

[Chris Ghent]

Geoff Crabb is a good living link to older terminology for concertina parts. I'm not sure Crabb terms are identical to other makers but they are definitely authentic. Perhaps if he sees this he will tell us their word for it.

[Stephen Chambers]

Anyone know where the expression "samper" comes from?

 

I've only ever seen it on David Leese's Concertina Spares website, nowhere else...

[Mike Franch]

I've only ever seen it on David Leese's Concertina Spares website, nowhere else...

 

Which raises the question, "where did David Leese acquire the term? Is it is own creation?"

 

I note that Wm Wakker also uses the term (http://www.concertinaconnection.com/spares.htm.

 

There are plenty of restorers and even some builders who participate in this forum. What term to you use?

[Wolf Molkentin]

Peter, thanks for temporarily switching to nerd mode to enlighten the uninitiated...

[Terry McGee]

While we await news on the etymological front, I do notice variation in sampers and how they are applied. Some are really thin and relatively large, and would appear to offer little flexibility. Some are thick and relatively small, offering a lot more self-alignment capability. Do we see self-alignment as an on-going requirement, or something that is only really important at the moment of installation?

 

Terry

[JimLucas]

My 1936 printing of the 1933 edition of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary doesn't have "samper". It does have "samp", which it defines as "coarsely ground Indian corn; a porridge made from it." Clearly not related to "samper", especially since it says "samp" derives from an Algonquian word meaning "softened by water". And speaking of water, the word after "samp" in that dictionary is "sampan".

 

But here's a wild speculation: Could "samper" have originated as a typographical error, a misprint of "damper"? (The handwritten letters don't look much alike, but on a typewriter, "s" and "d" are right next to each other.) A little bit of leather like that, especially the thicker version, would help soften the impact of a spring-impelled closing pad where a simple spot of glue might tend to fracture and break after thousands or millions of repeated impacts.

[Wolf Molkentin]

Just another thought - let'a assume your French attribution is it, Terry, but in the manner of sans-per... whatever..., as referring to the sort of lose (= without ...) connection as appropriately described by Pete.

Edited April 5, 2014 by blue eyed sailor

[alex_holden]

Certainly sounds plausible, Jim. Did Wheatstone's earliest concertinas have the samper discs or was it a later improvement, I wonder?

 

Sorry to drift off-topic again, how come it is called a pad if it's in a concertina and a pallet if it's in an accordion?