rigging

Rigging comes from the verb 'rig,' which entered English from Scandinavian sources — related to Norwegian rigga (to bind, to wrap). The word initially meant to fit out or equip, and in nautical context, to equip a ship with its masts, spars, and ropes. 'Rigging' became the collective noun for all the ropes, cables, and chains used to support the masts and control the sails.

Standing rigging holds the masts upright: shrouds run from the mast to the sides of the hull, stays run from the mast to the bow and stern. Running rigging controls the sails: halyards raise them, sheets trim their angle to the wind, braces control the yards (horizontal spars). A full-rigged ship — a vessel with three masts, all carrying square sails — could have over a hundred named lines, each with a specific function.

The word 'rig' extended to fraud in the eighteenth century — 'to rig an election' or 'to rig the market' — through the idea of arranging something deceptively, as one might arrange a ship's gear to appear different from what it was. Pirate ships sometimes rigged themselves to look like merchant vessels. The deception was literal before it became figurative.

The expression 'jury-rigged' (a temporary repair at sea) and 'jerry-built' (poorly constructed) are often confused but have different origins. 'Jury-rigged' comes from jury mast — a temporary mast erected after the original is lost — possibly from Old French ajurie (help, relief). The rigging of a jury mast was improvised but functional. The word respected the effort.