"Amphibion"... or "Amphibian"?

[Stargazer]

Nowadays this question may sound a bit strange.

To most of us there is no question that "amphibian" is the accepted term for an airplane that can take off and land from both land and water...

Every time we've seen the spelling "amphibion", it was always in late 1920s advertisements, mostly by Sikorsky and Douglas, and assumed it was merely a marketing trick, a way to coin a word and turn it into some sort of corporate trademark...

NOT SO.

Here is a very interesting item from the May 4, 1929 issue of Aviation. Not only does it show that there existed a controversy at that time about the two words, but it proves unequivocally that the spelling "amphibion" was meant to apply to aircraft as opposed to "amphibian" which was to be used solely for wildlife.

Despite Aviation's full endorsement of the new spelling, Sikorsky's repeated use of it in all their promotional material, and even the very official Funk & Wagnalls dictionary entry, somehow it failed to catch on, and soon "amphibian" became the only word in existence...

I have tried to list all known uses of the spelling "Amphibion" in official aircraft names and came up with the following:

• Great Lakes Model 4-A-1 Amphibion
• Ireland Amphibion (the company itself soon was renamed as Amphibions, Inc.)
• Sikorsky S-38 Amphibion
• Sikorsky S-39 Sport Amphibion
• Sikorsky S-41 Amphibion
• Sikorsky S-43 Amphibion (no, it was never officially called the "Baby Clipper" by Sikorsky, but pretty soon the name was dropped and the airplane was just called "S-43" in advertisements)
• Lee-Wendt WA-14 Amphibion (project)
• Lee-Wendt WA-22 Amphibion (project)
• Douglas Amphibion (first name given to the Sinbad and Dolphin types in early advertisements)

There were undoubtedly others, not to mention the times when one spelling was used for the other...

 

[Grey Havoc]

Nice work there again, Skyblazer.

 

[Stargazer]

Nice work there again, Skyblazer.

Thanks a lot, Grey Havoc. I'm glad this could be of interest to you.

 

[Avimimus]

Interesting!

 

[Maveric]

Very interesting thread, thanks Sky...
Do you have more informations about the Wendt projects?

 

[Stargazer]

Very interesting thread, thanks Sky...
Do you have more informations about the Wendt projects?

My pleasure.
The Lee-Wendt projects were covered here:

http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/13731

 

[Schneiderman]

Curiously Sikorsky seems to have used Amphibian in his US patents but Amphibion in Canadian patents

 

[Stargazer]

Curiously Sikorsky seems to have used Amphibian in his US patents but Amphibion in Canadian patents

Interesting, this. But I strongly suspect that patent applications had to follow strict rules, and that someone's inventions had to fall into a predefined and well-labeled category, hence the generic "Aircraft" found in so many patents for all kinds of flying machines. Perhaps Canadian patent application allowed for more freedom?

 

[Maveric]

thanks for the link Sky...but is this the WE-14 or WE-22?

 

[Stargazer]

thanks for the link Sky...but is this the WE-14 or WE-22?

The WA-22. The WA-14 was a smaller-scale proof of concept version. I've added small res pics in said topic.

 

[Apophenia]

Curiously Sikorsky seems to have used Amphibian in his US patents but Amphibion in Canadian patents

Airplanes, Women, and Song: Memoirs of a Fighter Ace, Test Pilot, and Adventurer, Allan Forsyth, Syracuse University Press, 1998

pg 136 (footnote) "Igor Sikorsky coined the "amphibion" for amphibious airplanes, to distinguish them from frogs and other non-flying amphibians. Boris Sergievsky loyally used the amphibion spelling in his Sportsman Pilot article, but the term did not catch on."

And, of course, amphibio (Αμφίβιο) is the transliterated Greek origin of our word amphibian.

 

[riggerrob]

Consider the French spelling "avion" for "airplane."
Canadian spellings have always been a confusing mix of American, British and French. In recent years, Ottawa is biased towards using the French spelling in both English and French, as they try to "officialize" a single spelling in both languages. .

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

Yes, its obviously a portmanteau derived from 'amphibian' and "avion" and is contextually used instead of "amphibious aeroplane".