this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2026
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Then why are we not calling it a raincone? ๐ค
Even if it was a semi-circle, why would we call it a bow? It doesn't look like a bow for archery, a bow for music, or a bow for fashion. ๐คทโโ๏ธ
I think the use of the word bow for curve or bend was used before all of the uses you mention. It comes from the word used to describe something turning back or a person taking a bow or bowing down. Bow specifically meaning bend comes from the word bugan. Where the bow used in archery comes from the word boga.
All of these do have the same origin meaning bend or curve. Specifically a bend in a river or the action of bowing. I can't find definitively if these were once separate things or always the same word.
Note the use of "arch" in archery also meaning a curve.
An archery bow is a semicircle
A violin bow is made from a curved piece of wood, the same as the weapon.
Yes, but curved does not mean circular. Do either bows have constant curvature?
OK? But we're not calling archery bows and violin bows circular; we're calling them bows i.e. curved. And we're calling the rainbow a bow, i.e. curved, which it is. Curved does not imply circular, but circular does imply curved.
Besides, I don't think the proto-indo-europeans were out there with calipers measuring the precise curvature of objects they decided to label with the *bheug- root.
If it freezes on the way down does it become a snowcone?