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Why is the word snatch used in the term snatch block?

snatch block — a fairlead having the form of a block that can be opened to receive the bight of a rope at any point along its length.

fairlead — a pulley, thimble, etc., used to guide a rope forming part of the rigging of a ship, crane, etc., in such a way as to prevent chafing.

snatch — to seize by a sudden or hasty grasp.

block — a solid mass of wood, stone, etc., usually with one or more flat or approximately flat faces.

A snatch block is used to make pulling or lifting something easier, but slower. Whereas the word snatch means to grab something quickly. So it seems counterintuitive to me that the word snatch is used in that context.

Related: YouTube - Why Snatch Blocks are AWESOME (How Pulleys Work) - Smarter Every Day

User1974
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  • I would think it comes from the Miiddle English verb snacchen which can mean to sieze prey. See the MED. I think it can refer to seizing with the fangs, as one of the attestations refers to a snapping dog. the related Old English words refer to something pointy. – TimR Aug 13 '23 at 23:26
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    Snatch block: (Nautical Terms) nautical a block that can be opened so that a rope can be inserted from the side, without threading it through from the end [C17: so called because the rope can be inserted quickly: figuratively, the block snatches it. https://www.thefreedictionary.com/snatch+block – user 66974 Aug 14 '23 at 11:12
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    I think speed of hoisting is not the idea but the speed with which the block can be opened to take the bight and then be closed upon it. – TimR Aug 14 '23 at 12:24
  • Exactly right TimR. If a block doesn't open, the line has to be fed in from an end -- which might already by tied to something. A snatch block lets you grab the line in the middle. – user8356 Aug 14 '23 at 19:06

2 Answers2

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Snatch has been used in nautical contexts since Middle English. The verb emerged in the 13th century, meaning to "take a sudden snap" or to suddenly grab or catch something, in both literal and figurative ways (Oxford English Dictionary, "Snatch, v."). By the late 15th century, the verb-stem snatch- emerged in a nautical context ("snatch-., comb. form"):

1485– Nautical. Denoting devices capable of rapid attachment, or to which a rope can be quickly attached, as snatch-cheek, snatch-cleat, snatch-hook, †snatch-pulley, snatch-sheave (cf. snatch-block n.).

1485 - "Snache poleis, ij." in M. Oppenheim, Naval Accounts & Inventories Henry VII (1896) 50

1495 - "Snache poleyes with oon shever of brasse to ye same" in M. Oppenheim, Naval Accounts & Inventories Henry VII (1896) 192

Snatch block emerges in the early 17th century as a combined form of this nautical usage and block, meaning a block with a hole one can quickly run a rope through ("snatch-block," n.):

A block having a hole in one side to receive the bight of a rope.

a1625 - "Snatch block is a greate Block with the Sheever in it and a Notch cutt through one of the Cheeks of it by which Notch they reeve anie Roape into it." H. Mainwaring, Nomenclator Navalis (MS British Library Harley 2301)

So putting the clues together, what is quick about the snatch-block isn't the rope itself. Instead, the block is set up so that one can quickly run the rope through the hole (see "snatch-"). Alternatively, the block quickly catches or snatches the rope.

TaliesinMerlin
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  • These blocks open so the middle of rope can be put over the block (pulley) part and then snapped closed. Otherwise, you have to start at the end, which is often impossible on a rigged sail. – user8356 Aug 14 '23 at 19:03
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The given answer is likely wrong, following the most common interpretation of the question, how can snatch block derive from [modern English] snatch?

In reality, snatch has no good etymology. Nautical snatch should be treated as a possible witness of the verb's etymology, notwithstanding the dates of attestation (@Merlin) because a derived simplex is prima facie more likely to be used in writing.

block likely pertajns to the original sense of a stopper. It could be related to German Blech "sheet metal" as a band of sheet metal wound into shape, because *a canonically goes to o (cp. boat) and has thus to be borrowed, cp. bloke.

snatch compares Schnauze – snout – because the sn-initial cluster has no etymology, sobfar, other than imitative (cp. snack, snot, snicker etc.). The sense of firmly holding (with teeth) is likely secondary.

The original sense will have been nook, nut, noose, as a loophole that doesn't chaf the rope too badly. That this was the ideal place for a clamp is coincidence.

Snatch "cunt" proves the original meaning, inasmuch as this sense is not at all expected to be found in classic writing until the device had lost any resemblance in form or function. German Schnecke ("concha") rather than Schnauze ("mouth") still attests to this. In the sense of "coil" (eg. snail shell) it is close enough to functional clamps, not unlike a carabiner.

See also: Why is a good-looking or sexually attractive person called a 'snack'? comparevSp. esposa

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