NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: Jürgen Hoefeld
Date: 2013 Aug 23, 12:21 +0200
The term "Dragonfly", as used on the C.Plath A.H. accessory is derived from the German term for a spirit-filled bubble level, which is also the same word (German "Libelle") for an insect commonly called the "dragonfly". The confusion over the term can be seen when translating technical documents- Google translate defaults to the "Dragonfly" for "libelle" even when it's obvious that it's referring to a bubble level.
see http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/german-english/libelle?
I'm uncertain as to the exact origin/derivation- "libelle" is used when referring to levels in several German surveying texts of the late 1880's, so it probably dates to when German surveyors started having to describe the movement of the bubble when trying to be centered. - the movement of the small air bubble would move similar to a dragonfly.
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