The trouble with this explanation is that it is historically inaccurate. The stones were not thrown with a twist to impart “curl” until well after the sport had already been named. Indications are that, in Canada, twisting the rock on delivery didn’t start until the 1840s.
IF this is true (and I presume it is easily checked out), then deciding that the sport was named on the basis of the “curl” of the rocks would be wrong.
Russ Armstrong:
February 2nd, 2021 at 4:16 pm
The last comment is correct. Curling was named long before any type of physical “Curl” was put on the stone, as well, there are a number of references in curling history books to the word “Curr” or “Roar” as the origin of the name curling.
Ed Scimia:
September 21st, 2021 at 3:17 pm
But rocks do “curl” even on the worst of outdoor ice, even if one can’t control it. The player delivering doesn’t “curl” the stone; the stone itself curls. When people starting putting a turn on a handle is different than when rocks began curling — presumably, as soon as someone tried to slide one down the imperfect ice of a loch.
Which leads to another question: if the Scots had both the words curl and curr, and chose to name the sport after the latter, why wasn’t the sport known as Curring?
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Douglas Young:
February 12th, 2018 at 4:03 pm
The trouble with this explanation is that it is historically inaccurate. The stones were not thrown with a twist to impart “curl” until well after the sport had already been named. Indications are that, in Canada, twisting the rock on delivery didn’t start until the 1840s.
IF this is true (and I presume it is easily checked out), then deciding that the sport was named on the basis of the “curl” of the rocks would be wrong.
Russ Armstrong:
February 2nd, 2021 at 4:16 pm
The last comment is correct. Curling was named long before any type of physical “Curl” was put on the stone, as well, there are a number of references in curling history books to the word “Curr” or “Roar” as the origin of the name curling.
Ed Scimia:
September 21st, 2021 at 3:17 pm
But rocks do “curl” even on the worst of outdoor ice, even if one can’t control it. The player delivering doesn’t “curl” the stone; the stone itself curls. When people starting putting a turn on a handle is different than when rocks began curling — presumably, as soon as someone tried to slide one down the imperfect ice of a loch.
Which leads to another question: if the Scots had both the words curl and curr, and chose to name the sport after the latter, why wasn’t the sport known as Curring?