Re: Re:[for Italian users] how to translate "spanner"?

[Trevor Daniels]

Phil Holmes wrote Friday, August 24, 2012 12:42 PM

> From: "Felipe Castro" <address@hidden>
>
>>> From: Han-Wen Nienhuys <address@hidden>
>>>
>>> "extensor" sounds good to me in Portuguese.
>>
>> I agree. And this makes me think about my translation to esperanto,
>> where I used the word "disigi" (spread), and now I see I should change
>> it to "etendi" (extend).
>>
>> Han-Wen, instead of "spanner", in English, would you use "extender"?
>> I'm not asking to change, just wondering if both words are equivalent
>> in this case.
> 
> Replying as a native English speaker.  No, I don't believe I would.  An 
> extender would be something that makes something extend - i.e. makes it 
> longer.  A spanner (in this context) is something that spans.  So we could 
> call a bridge a river spanner (although I don't believe anyone ever actually 
> would).

I agree.  A spanner implies bridging between two equivalent end points.
An extender would imply something already exists and is just made longer.
A direction is often implied - the road was extended from A to B.

Trevor