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    "source_title": "Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911)",
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    "chunk_id": "1911:hammer:1ac8fdc6c70d",
    "title": "HAMMER",
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    "verified_text": "hammer, an implement consisting of a shaft or handle with head fixed transversely to it. the head, usually of metal, has one flat face, the other may be shaped to serve various purposes, e.g. with a claw, a pick, &c. the implement is used for breaking, beating, driving nails, rivets, &c., and the word is applied to heavy masses of metal moved by machinery, and used for similar purposes. (see tool.) \"hammer\" is a word common to teutonic languages. it appears in the same form in german and danish, and in dutch as _hamer_, in swedish as _hammare_. the ultimate origin is unknown. it has been connected with the root seen in the greek [greek: kamptein], to bend; the word would mean, therefore, something crooked or bent. a more illuminating suggestion connects the word with the slavonic _kamy_, a stone, cf. russian _kamen_, and ultimately with sanskrit _acman_, a pointed stone, a thunderbolt. the legend of thor's hammer, the thunderbolt, and the probability of the primitive hammer being a stone, adds plausibility to this derivation. the word is applied to many objects resembling a hammer in shape or function. thus the \"striker\" in a clock, or in a bell, when it is sounded by an independent lever and not by the swinging of the \"tongue,\" is called a \"hammer\"; similarly, in the \"action\" of a pianoforte the word is used of a wooden shank with felt-covered head attached to a key, the striking of which throws the \"hammer\" against the strings. in the mechanism of a fire-arm, the \"hammer\" is that part which by its impact on the cap or primer explodes the charge. (see gun.) the hammer, more usually known by its french name of _martel de fer_, was a medieval hand-weapon. with a long shaft it was used by infantry, especially when acting against mounted troops. with a short handle and usually made altogether of metal, it was also used by horse-soldiers. the _martel_ had one part of the head with a blunted face, the other pointed, but occasionally both sides were pointed. there are 16th century examples in which a hand-gun forms the handle. the name of \"hammer,\" in latin _malleus_, has been frequently applied to men, and also to books, with reference to destructive power. thus on the tomb of edward i. in westminster abbey is inscribed his name of _scotorum malleus_, the \"hammer of the scots.\" the title of \"hammer of heretics,\" _malleus haereticorum_, has been given to st augustine and to johann faber, whose tract against luther is also known by the name. thomas cromwell was styled _malleus monachorum_. the famous text-book of procedure in cases of witchcraft, published by sprenger and kramer in 1489, was called _hexenhammer_ or _malleus maleficarum_ (see witchcraft). the origin of the word \"hammer-cloth,\" an ornamental cloth covering the box-seat on a state-coach, has been often explained from the hammer and other tools carried in the box-seat by the coachman for repairs, &c. the _new english dictionary_ points out that while the word occurs as early as 1465, the use of a box-seat is not known before the 17th century. other suggestions are that it is a corruption of \"hamper-cloth,\" or of \"hammock-cloth,\" which is used in this sense, probably owing to a mistake. neither of these supposed corruptions helps very much. skeat connects the word with a dutch word _hemel_, meaning a canopy. in the name of the bird, the yellow-hammer, the latter part should be \"ammer.\" this appears in the german name, _emmerling_, and the word probably means the \"chirper,\" cf. the ger. _jammern_, to wail, lament.",
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