Greg 'groggy' Lehey <grog at lemis.com> wrote:
 |On Friday,  8 July 2016 at 13:09:12 +0200, Steffen Nurpmeso wrote:
 |> Greg 'groggy' Lehey <grog at lemis.com> wrote:
 |>> On Thursday,  7 July 2016 at 16:18:41 +0200, Steffen Nurpmeso wrote:
 |>>> Nemo <cym224 at gmail.com> wrote:
 |>>>> I would argue "solidus" is closer.
 |>>>
 |>>> SOLIDUS is the Unicode name, too, as is REVERSE SOLIDUS, giving
 |>>> SLASH and BACKSLASH as secondaries.
 |>>
 |>> Finally we have clarity!  From now on it's only (without shouting)
 |>> solidus and reverse solidus.  No confusion any more, at least not
 |>> for those in the know.
 |>
 |> Maybe it helps that the German «Schrägstrich» will desert into Slash
 |> («Herkunft: englisch slash, eigentlich???= (harter, kurzer) Schlag,
 |> Hieb, laut- und bewegungsnachahmend oder zu altfranzösisch
 |> esclachier???= (zer)teilen»
 |
 |You don't quote your source, but the blue Duden (paraphrased for
 |non-German speakers) makes it clear that "Strich" comes from an Ablaut
 |form of "streichen", itself derived from the root "Strahl", originally
 |meaning "arrow".  So ultimately, it seems, you have the choice of
 |being struck or shot.

Haha, very nice.  I wouldn't sign the "originally meaning" --
without knowing it seems more likely that this visualization of an
"arrow"-in-the-flight was itself based on the "beam"s of sunlight
(that fall through holes in a cloudy sky).  Nature-induced
visualizations are pretty common me thinks; e.g., Fritz Walter
describes a football goal of the young Uwe Seeler during world
championship 1958 with "Ein Strich.  Ein Blitz." ("A line/stroke.
A Lightning.").

I would really think that "Strich" (line, dash, stroke) of
"streichen" (hm, stroke) is derived from such.  We say things like
"Die Segel streichen" (Taking in the sails), "Der Wind streicht
durch die Bäume" (The wind sweeps through the trees) and such
things.  "Streichen" is documented as an Onomatopoeia, and,
funnily, the english Wikipedia article for this mentions "bang".

Slash is not that bad, we all come from a very dark and
substantial base, and i think at least subconsciously we take that
with us, and it is a problem even before it becomes conscious.
(Interestingly just today i heard a review of a book of Sacha
Batthyany, "Und was hat das mit mir zu tun?" (What has that got to
do with me?), but not (yet) english i think.)
And, not hundred years ago one could buy liquid human fat
("Axungia hominis") in pharmacies, and usage of dismembered parts
was pretty common, and by 1984 face creams still contained fat
extracted from placenta remains.   Not 150 years ago a preacher
wrote "the thumb of a thieve laid aside from or under the goods
provides fortune for the merchant".  In Cannes this year i heard
times are about cannibalism.  So slash is just as hip as it always
had been.  I will now go and slice some pieces of Austrian cheese.

--steffen