TOP (cf. Dan. top, Ger. Topf, also meaning pot)

This article appears in Volume V27, Page 48 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: TOO-TUM

TOP (cf. Dan. top, Ger. Topf, also meaning pot) , a toy consisting of a

body

BODY

of conical, circular or

oval

OVAL (Lat. ovum, egg)

shape with a point or peg on which it turns or is made to whirl. The twisting or whirling motion is applied by whipping or lashing when it is a " whip-ping top" or " peg-top," or by the rapid unwinding of a

string

STRING

tightly wound round a head or handle. When the

body

BODY

is hollow this results in a whirring noise, whence the name " humming top." Other kinds of tops are made as supports for coloured disks which on revolving show a kaleidoscopic variation of patterns. The top is also used in certain games of chance, when it is generally known as a" teetotum." There are many references to it in ancient classical literature. The Greek terms for the toy are ,QE0t , which was evidently the whipping or peg top (Arist. Birds, 1461), and orpo(iiXos, a humming top, spun by a

string

STRING

(Plato, Rep. iv. 436 E.). In

Homer

HOMER,
WINSLOW
- WINSLOW, EDWARD (1595-1655)
(1836-191o)

(Il. xiv. 413) the word
trrpbpfios seems to point to the humming top. The Latin name for the top was turbo. This word and the Greek A6 3os are sometimes translated by " top " when they refer to the

instrument

INSTRUMENT (Lat. instrumentum, from insincere, to build up, furnish, arrange, prepare)

used in the Dionysiac mysteries, which, when whirled in the air by a string, produced a booming noise. This was no doubt the equivalent of the "

bull

roarer " (q.v.). Strutt (Games and Pastimes, 491) says that the top was known in England as early as the 14th century. For the scientific properties of the top see GYROSCOPE and GYROSTAT.
This word must be distinguished from that signifying the highest or uppermost

part

PART

of anything. It appears to have meant origin-ally a tuft or crest of

hair

HAIR (a word common to Teutonic languages)

, cf. Ger. Zopf, Du. top, Icel. Copps, &c.; it is allied to Eng. " tap," a spike for a cask, and " tip," point. Some etymologists have identified the two words, the toy being so called from spinning on its top or tip, but the two German forms seem to prove conclusively that the words are different.

End of Article: TOP (cf. Dan. top, Ger. Topf, also meaning pot)

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