The First Skyscrapers Were Boats 🧐

The word "skyscraper" might immediately bring to mind images of towering city buildings reaching for the clouds. However, its origins are far from urban landscapes – they're actually rooted in the world of sailing. Before "skyscraper" described tall buildings, it was a nautical term referring to a small triangular sail set high above the main sails on tall ships. This sail, positioned so high up it seemed to "scrape" the sky, was used especially during light winds to maximize a ship's propulsion.

The transition of the term from sea to city occurred in the late 19th century. As urban areas began to grow vertically due to advancements in construction technologies, the tallest of these buildings were metaphorically "scraping" the sky, much like the sail on a ship. Thus, the term "skyscraper" found its modern application to describe these impressive tall structures. It's fascinating to think that this term, now synonymous with urban development and modernity, has its roots in the age-old tradition of sailing.

Consequently, many languages have adopted the concept of the "skyscraper" by creating calques—literal translations of compound words. For instance, in French, a skyscraper is a "gratte-ciel," which translates to "scrape-sky." Similarly, in Dutch, it's "wolkenkrabber," meaning "cloud-scraper." German's "Wolkenkratzer" and Spanish's "rascacielos" both echo this "cloud" or "sky scraping" imagery.

[Nutzeesy]

Inspirational people: "Sky is the limit"

Skyscraper engineers: "We'll see about that"

[Zagill]

This is my opportunity to mention that "calque" is a loan word - and "loan word" is a calque!

[RockyRacoon]

“Cielo” is both sky and heaven in Spanish, so Rascacielos is a literal translation.

[YRO.]

In Arabic, they're called "ناطحات سحاب" which literally translates to "cloud butters". Butters as in head butting, not butter 🧈.

[goldenredstone]

Fun fact: The term calque itself is a loanword from the French noun calque, while the word loanword is a calque of the German noun Lehnwort.

[ytuser]

If I tried to talk to my grandparents’ grandparents about skyscrapers, the other people in the cemetery would probably be really confused.

[MrBerryK]

In ships, it wasn’t the *mast* that was called a skyscraper, but the highest sail. From the deck upwards the sails were: mainsail, topsail, topgallant, royal, and skyscraper.

[Miczka]

In Polish it's "drapacze chmur" - cloud scratchers. When first one was being built in Warsaw, someone made a song about clouds being afraid of being scratched and running away, thus builders of the skyscraper had great weather.

[mingingg]

In Finland, a skyscraper is a "cloud drawer"

[supykun]

In Korean they're called 마천루 (摩天樓, macheonroo) - which literally translates to a "sky-rubbing shack".

[shiny]

In portuguese it's arranha-céu (sky scrapper). Im in awe at how consistent the name is in every language

[Goodwomanbadlady]

If I tried to talk to my grandparents grandparents, I'd need a passport and a translator.

[MMT--Games]

In Turkish, we call those "gökdelen" which translates to "sky-piercer"

[truedarklander]

Cielo means both sky and heaven in Spanish

[XplusZEROequalsZX]

I met my grandma’s grandma. I’m fifteen and she died in 2021 at 100 years old, when I was thirteen. I wished I asked her more questions about history. She lived through the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War, etc. She was around for the 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, 2000’s, 2010’s, and the beginning of the 2020’s. Just think about it. She was alive at the same time as Albert Einstein himself and loved to see the PS5, and I never asked her a thing. Rest in peace, Tee-Tee.

[gunjohn]

In Denmark they’re called “skyskraber” eller “højhus” which translates directly to “sky scraper” and “high house”

[Alfonso]

Well, "rascacielos" would be the name for ALL Spanish-speaking countries, not just Argentina. Also, slight correction: although the word "cielo" can be translated to "heaven", the one that appears in the word "rascacielos" is more correctly translated as "sky", so there was no need to use a different word in your example.

[SnaksiXD]

In finnish they're called cloud-drawers which sounds kinda beautiful, using the blue sky as a pen to draw onto clouds.

[joannis]

In Swedish they are called "sky scratchers" or simply "high houses".

[ElucidTheGreat]

Dude seeing pictures and video of old school steel workers give so much anxiety. Its crazy that those dudes were hundreds of feet in the air, with nothing but their feet and balance to keep them from death.