# Boathouse



## Helleno File

Can you help with this word that caused some uncertainty in my Greek class.  My local park has an attractive lake with a fine old boathouse.  It is quite a big building which now stores canoes, some large, used by scouts.  In the past people could hire rowing boats, now stopped, sadly, probably because the council would have to obtain insurance.  The cafe which is an integral part continues to operate.

One suggestion for boathouse was λεμβοστάσιο.  WR dictionary paraphrases with υπόστεγο φύλαξης σκαφών which doesn't do it justice.  Does anyone have a better suggestion.


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## LeoPollaPsemata

The utmost official Greek word for boat is λέμβος. Βαρκα is the most popular but Λέμβος is the official. 
Λεμβοδρομίες is the word we use for boat racing sports. Σωσίβια λέμβος is the word for lifeboat. 

Λεμβοστάσιο sounds just great although not word in use, to my humble opinion, not many premises 
for such purpose in Greece. In fact for a λεμβοστάσιο, we would use just υπόστεγο = shed.

Long story sort, Λεμβοστάσιο, not in use but everyone will understand.


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## Acestor

Dear Helleno File (interesting spelling)

You seem to have located an interesting linguistic or lexicographical lacuna. The word *λεμβοστάσιο *has been around since the late 19th century and can be found in a number of older dictionaries and some more recent ones, including the Penguin-Hellenews English-Greek Dictionary (1975), the online Lexigram dictionary of synonyms, the Korais Greek-English dictionary (2008) (translated into ‘boat-house’), even the WordReference Greek-English dictionary.

Surprisingly, there are no entries for the word in the major recent dictionaries of the Greek language. However, a Google Books search has shown that people have been using the word without a problem in various contexts up to the present. It is also the Greek term for ‘boathouses’ in the Locarno Classification. See also this Facebook page titled “From the Boathouse of the Spetses Marine Club”.

Seeing that *λέμβος* is a rowing boat, λεμβοστάσιο might not be the best word to describe a hangar or shelter for bigger boats, but still this did not stop people from translating this ‘electric boat house’ as λεμβοστάσιο.

I truly hope that the term reappears in Greek dictionaries.


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## sotos

Λέμβος is not only the rowing boat. It is also the small sailing boat, even one with an engine.


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## Acestor

sotos said:


> Λέμβος is not only the rowing boat. It is also the small sailing boat, even one with an engine.



You're right, I should have mentioned the whole range of small boats — rowing boat, sailing boat, lifeboat, motor boat (μηχανοκίνητη λέμβος).


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## Helleno File

Thank you LeoPollaPsemata (another interesting name!) and Acestor for two excellent answers. I had no idea this would create such a strong reaction! Presumably the greater number of boathouses in Britain is due to the climate!

@Acestor your research is impressive. Perhaps λεμβοστάσιο is making a comeback. I would be happy to join its fan club.

Is σωσίβια λέμβος a lifeboat only on a larger ship or is it also for boats that are land-based and rescue individuals or, much bigger, go to the aid of vessels in difficulty on the open sea. Britain has an extensive system of such lifeboats staffed almost entirely by brave volunteers. These lifeboats are kept in lifeboat _stations_, which also usually have storage for equipment and some facilities for the crew.

As for Sotos and Acestor's comments about boat terminology English may have even more words than Greek, many obscure and archaic but still used in specialised contexts.


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## Helleno File

Just thought: on board a passenger ship a lifeboat station is where you go when you are abandoning ship and need to get in one of the ship's lifeboats. In a recent news report this was referred to as a muster station, possibly an American expression (?), muster being a rarely used old word meaning gather.


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## dmtrs

Helleno File said:


> Is σωσίβια λέμβος a lifeboat only on a larger ship or is it also for boats that are land-based and rescue individuals or, much bigger, go to the aid of vessels in difficulty on the open sea.




The smaller lifeboats on board a larger ship are called "σωσίβια λέμβος" or "ναυαγοσωστική λέμβος" indifferently. For the land-based small boats we would only use "ναυαγοσωστική λέμβος"; "ναυαγοσωστικό (σκάφος)" is used for the larger land-based vessels (the word "σκάφος" is almost always omitted).


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## sotos

Λεμβοστάσιο is found in the Lexicon of Dimitrakos (1952), giving as synonym the λεμβών (ο). If I knew what is "boathouse" in French, I could possibly find the greek word in the French-to-Greek Lexicon of Technical Terms, by Ηπίτης, 1895.


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## Perseas

sotos said:


> Λεμβοστάσιο is found in the Lexicon of Dimitrakos (1952), giving as synonym the λεμβών (ο).


And _λεμβών_ is (according to the same dictionary) _εστεγασμένος χώρος ναυστάθμου, ένθα αγκυροβολούνται οι λέμβοι_.



Helleno File said:


> My local park has an attractive lake with a fine old boathouse. It is quite a big building which now stores canoes, some large, used by scouts. In the past people could hire rowing boats, now stopped, sadly, probably because the council would have to obtain insurance.


From Helleno's description I deduce that "λεμβοστάσιο" may not be an 1-1 equivalent of "boathouse", but it's still a good one.


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## Αγγελος

You could try reviving the ancient word νεώσοικος, which also literally meant 'boat-house'


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