Flagstaff (pronounced flag-staf or flag-stahf)
The forms flag-staff & flag staff both exist, the original
mistake often replicated and often seen in commercial use. Flagstaff is a noun; the noun plural is flagstaves
or flagstaffs, the latter now more common.
(1) A pole on which a flag is flown (by convention, a
flagstaff is shorter, often portable and used with miniature flags while a “flagpole”
is used taller, used for full-sized flags and usually a permanent structure.
(2) A locality name in a number of countries.
Circa 1610: The construct was flag + staff. Dating from the late fifteenth century, Flag was from
the Middle English flag & flagge (flag), the origins of which are uncertain.
Possible sources include (1) the early
Middle English flage (name for a
baby's garment), (2) the Old English flagg
& flacg (cataplasm, poultice,
plaster), (3) a blend of the nouns flap & fag (in obsolete sense “flap”) or
(4) an imitative form of something unknown.
Although it’s speculative, there is support for a link with the Proto-Germanic
flaką (something flat), from the
primitive Indo-European pleh- (flat,
broad, plain), the reference obviously to the shape of a flag. The Germanic cognates included the Saterland
Frisian Flaage (flag), the West
Frisian flagge (flag), the Dutch vlag (flag), the German Flagge (flag), the Swedish flagga (flag) and the Danish flag (flag, ship's flag). The words may be compared with the Middle
English flacken (to flutter,
palpitate), the Swedish dialectal flage
(to flutter in the wind) and the Old Norse flögra
(to flap about), all akin to the Old High German flogarōn (to flutter), the Old High German flogezen (to flutter, flicker), the Middle English flakeren (to move quickly to and fro)
and the Old English flacor
(“fluttering, flying). Staff (in the
sense of a “stick or pole”) was from the Middle English staf (stick or pole, especially one up to 6 feet (1.8 metres) in
length and carried in the hand (typically “a military standard”)), from the Old
English stæf (plural stafas) (walking stick, strong pole used
for carrying, rod used as a weapon, pastoral staff), probably originally stæb, from the Proto-Germanic stab- (the source also of the Old Saxon staf, the Old Norse stafr, the Danish stav, the
Old Frisian stef, the Middle Low
German & Middle Dutch staf, the Old
High German stab, the German Stab, the Gothic stafs and the Middle Dutch stapel
(pillar, foundation).
The
locality names are probably usually in some way related to the presence of a
flagstaff (or flagpole) and there are some romantic tales about how the city of
Flagstaff, Arizona (county seat of Coconino County) gained the name, most in
some way related to the US centennial celebrations of 4 July 1876 when a large
flag was flown from a tall tree (in some tellings it was raised on an actual
flagpole made from an impressively straight and tall pine tree felled for the occasion). The actual details remain murky but all seem
convinced the flag flown on the day was the central feature. Flagstaff is the location of the Museum of
Northern Arizona which holds a collection of ten sandpainting reproductions (by
an unknown Navajo artist) of photographic images taken by Barry Goldwater
(1909–1998), the Republican Party nominee at the 1964 US presidential
election. An avid photographer, Goldwater
captured many images of Western landscapes and Native Americans subjects,
publishing three books of his photographs between the 1940s & 1970s. The terms flagstaff and a flagpole often are used
interchangeably but among specialists there is a convention distinguishing use:
Flagstaff:
(1) A shorter pole or staff, often portable or decorative and seen on tables at
international conferences, inform of each representative or delegation. (2) With
the exception of those used on vessels or vehicles, the flagstaff is most
associated with ceremonial, indoor use. (3) Flagstaffs are often fitted with an
ornamental finial (a decorative topper) which is often styled to match the base
(which, if fitted, is typically wide and relatively heavy to provide stability.
Flagpole:
(1) A typically taller and more robust structure, used outdoors (although there
are “full-sized” flagpoles in enclosed buildings. (2) Flagpoles usually are fixed
installations and designed to withstand severe weather, holding a flag (or flags)
in a permanent or semi-permanent position. Flagpoles can be installed in the ground
or attached to a building (or some custom structure), usually with a mechanism
for raising or lowering the flag, the most common of which is the halyard
system.
Lindsay Lohan with flagstaff equipped Mercedes-Benz 600 (W100, 1963-1981) Pullman during filing for Liz & Dick (2012). The Even more then forty years after the last was built, the 600 remains a popular choice for film directors wishing to summon the verisimilitude of wealth, power and evil, the latter because of the roll-call of kleptomaniac, megalomaniac and occasionally genocidal heads of state who formed a great fondness for the things.
Breakdown of Mercedes-Benz flagstaff part numbers for W116 (1972-1980, left) and W123 (1976-1986, right). Despite the appearance, as the numbers indicate, the shafts were different although some of the fittings were interchangeable. Although the W123 (equating with the modern E-Class) was in the “mid-range” market, it was popular in governmental and diplomatic use, being much cheaper than the bigger S-Class (and certainly the gargantuan Großer (Grosser (the W100)) and there was a long-wheelbase (LWB) version with seating for seven to eight.
The
term flagstaff is now associated mostly with the devices attached to limousines
(and increasingly, armored, truck-like SUVs) used by the military, the corps
diplomatique or other government dignitaries.
These are used to fly national flags, personal standards or whatever is
appropriate to the occupant’s station. Because
they are used on vehicles which, being used for ceremonial purposes, often
travel at low speed in parades, the flags used are sometimes rigid to emulate
the appearance of one in a stiff breeze, a similar trick to that NASA (National
Aeronautics and Space Administration) used for the flag “flown” on the moon to
mark the Apollo 11 landing in 1969.
Flagstaff-equipped Mercedes-Benz 600s (W100, 1963-1981): comrade Josip Broz Tito (1892–1980; prime-minister or president of Yugoslavia 1944-1980) (left), comrade Nicolae Ceaușescu (1918–1989; general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party 1965-1989) and Pope Paul VI (1897-1978; pope 1963-1978).
Although
not a technically difficult device to create, some manufacturers who serviced
the market (Rolls-Royce, Mercedes-Benz, Cadillac, Lincoln & Imperial)
offered the flagstaffs as a factory part-number (technically, some coming from third-party
coach-builders). On the Mercedes-Benz
600 they were available either as a pair or single fitting (installed either
left or right although they were interchangeable and a single part-number) but
there doesn’t seem to have been any asymmetrical installs. There are photographs of 600s with bumper-bar
mounted flagstaff but these were an after-market, third-party fitting and not a
factory variation. Because many
Lincolns, Cadillacs, Imperials et al were built by independent coach-builders
on either a “commercial chassis” or as a “stretch”, there’s much variation in
both the design and placement of flagstaffs.
1960 Rolls-Royce Phantom V Canberra state limousine by Park Ward, Buckingham Palace, 1990. On limousines, although the most common location of flagstaffs is the front fender (almost always paired), the cars of the Royal Mews (what the British royal family call their garage) fly a standard from a single, central mount at the front of the roof.
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