Friday, August 21, 2015

CANTEEN...

Funny how words shift and evolve, isn’t it?
What starts out as one thing soon becomes another…

In the 1700s, a canteen was simply a supply store; it’s from the French (cantine, a sutler’s establishment) and Italian (cantina, a wine cellar or shop). But the meaning shifted in translation, and “canteen” soon became to mean the item we know so well…a small tin container for water or liquor.
Transporting water was always an issue—ancient nomads used animal bladders, closed tight with sinew and tied to camels for long crossings in the desert; shepherds hollowed out gourds, stuck a plug in the necks and hiked up to high pastures where they summered their flocks; cowboys made bags of leather and strapped them to saddles on cattle drives across the American west.
Some canteens were even made of thick colored glass—they were designed to transport liquors from distiller to market. I’ve found some in old house dumps behind old New England farmhouses, seen others in antique stores, and they are quite lovely on display.


My maternal grandfather spent some time in Italy before WWI; he was a pediatrician, and made many trips to Europe studying diseases of children. On one of his jaunts, he ended up in Florence (Firenze), where he purchased this lovely Pilgrim’s Flask for my grandmother. It originally had a leather cord attached to each of the lion heads on the shoulders of the bottle, but that’s been gone a very long time. My grandmother never drank anything but sherry (the sweeter the better—sweet enough to choke a bat, I hear!); I doubt she ever stashed any of the hard stuff in it, but I do remember the occasional floral arrangement on the kitchen table – bright flowers above the neck, stems pushed down inside.

Eventually, a canteen took the shape we know today – a roundish tin water bottle carried by people on the move – soldiers, travelers, those on the road; Girl and Boy Scouts used them (you bet we weren’t carrying booze, though!). They all had straps or clips or belts, they were sometimes covered with leather, flannel, or even wool.
          

Here’s one I found in one of my trusty old mail order catalogues (1930), not a lousy old tin canteen, but an aluminum one – “pure aluminum substantially constructed throughout. Screw top with safety chain. Well made outside cover khaki color lined with felt, long length adjustable shoulder straps.”
All that for $1.98.

         
Today, we pay that much for the fortified (electrolytes added!) water we carry inside…

26 comments:

  1. Your photos of old canteens are pretty, but to me a canteen still primarily means a food outlet, usually at a school. Maybe it's just because I was never a girl guide or army recruit.

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    1. Or it could mean a set of cutlery.

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    2. Food outlets here are usually called "cafeterias;" never heard of a canteen meaning cutlery--cultural and linguistic differences always amaze me!

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  2. Your Grandmother's canteen is lovely. I like its double use. Now I'm wondering if I still have my Girl Scout canteen. I know I have my mess kit.

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    1. ..with all the little pots that stacked on top of each other? and the frying pan with the screw-on handle that ended up holding the whole mess kit together for easy carrying?
      Yeah, me, too!

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  3. Your grandmother’s canteen is beautiful, and I can imagine it with a few flowers in the top.
    I always think of a ‘works’ canteen when I hear the word – the place where workers are fed. I’ve eaten in a few such places in my time but don’t have any photos.

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    2. She used to clip wildflowers from the woods near their summer home in NH; it sat on the table with flowers, on the ledge of the china cupboard when empty!

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  4. The Pilgrim's Flask is lovely & it's easy to imagine it holding a small bouquet of flowers. How pretty. I had a Girl Scout mess kit, too. Don't know what happened to it, though? Your description of it is perfect right down to the frying pan/carrying handle. :)

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    1. It was like a Russian nesting doll, wasn't it, Gail? Little pots with lids, one inside the other, the whole thing was clever, but a real pain in the neck sometimes...

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  5. I like your interesting spin on the theme. Just this past week I came across my dad's army canteen, still with the canvas cover, that saw service in Korea. It's companion is my grandfather's mess kit from his days as a marine in Nicaragua during the 20s.

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    1. I was desperate, Mike! Couldn't find anything that truly "fit" the theme, so resorted to linguistic hijinks!!!! Love that you have your grandfather's mess kit -- that's wonderful!

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  6. What an informative post, with a very different "take" on this week's theme, and lovely photographs to illustrate your theme - my favourite has to be the first one, as I am very into blue and white china.

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    1. When you shake this flask, Sue, it rattles: the old cork is inside, having been pushed down and in by an enthusiastic grandchild! It is pretty, indeed!

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  7. My husband has a military issue canteen - souvenir from his air force days. I guess our modern canteen equivalent is a plastic bottle full of water. We called the community hall, the canteen and it's where the dances were held for teens. I have many vivid memories of those days.

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    1. I think you're right about plain old water bottles being the contemporary canteen...in all colors of plastic, too; with built in sippers and straws! Ahhh -- the good old days!

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  8. It's a long time since I've thought of that meaning for canteen. If asked what a canteen was I would have said a style of cafe where you queue up with your tray and get served your choice of food from those on display. They used to be popular in the department stores some time ago. I've never seen anything like those beautiful ones you show

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    1. Type "Pilgrim Flask" into any search engine, and you'll see more gorgeous ones; they're just amazing. And the glass ones are beautiful, too...

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  9. I am reminded of my Army canteen of the early '60s, a style adopted sometime before WWII, I think. With a thick aluminum oval bottle shape with a screw plastic top, it sat in a similar shaped aluminum cup with a folding handle. This in turn sat in a canvas cover with two snaps at the shoulders and a double steel wire clip that allowed it to be attached to a wide canvas web belt. That belt also held by the same type of attachment, ammo pouches, first aid kit, bayonet, flashlight, and other equipment I have forgotten.
    I remember the water always tasted lousy, perhaps from the age of the canteen itself, or maybe the effects of the other liquid refreshments the ever resourceful GI could find to fill it with!.

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  10. I am reminded of my Army canteen of the early '60s, a style adopted sometime before WWII, I think. With a thick aluminum oval bottle shape with a screw plastic top, it sat in a similar shaped aluminum cup with a folding handle. This in turn sat in a canvas cover with two snaps at the shoulders and a double steel wire clip that allowed it to be attached to a wide canvas web belt. That belt also held by the same type of attachment, ammo pouches, first aid kit, bayonet, flashlight, and other equipment I have forgotten.
    I remember the water always tasted lousy, perhaps from the age of the canteen itself, or maybe the effects of the other liquid refreshments the ever resourceful GI could find to fill it with!.

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    1. Plastic top? I've seen old ones with metal or porcelain tops, but not plastic -- and, as I recall, every drop of water I ever drank from my Camp Fire Girl canteen was lousy, too -- think of all the metal we were swallowing back then! It's a wonder we survived childhood, eh?

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  11. Well done Jo on your allusion to the term meaning container for cutlery...now I feel the need to do a post on my mother's silver canteen :)

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    1. Please do, Alex -- that particular usage is unfamiliar to me...so I'd love to see it -- if you don't do a Sepia Post, please send me a photo at debgould12@gmail.com...Thanks!

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  12. Deb, great take on the theme. when I saw the photo of the metal canteen, for some reason my mind flashed to the old canvas water bags that were always in sight on the farm where I grew up. All of those water carrying vessels are so much more interesting than the tons of plastic bottles we now see.

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    1. Oh, Joan...I forgot about canvas ones! I remember seeing one of those at my grandfather's once...and the worst part about these new ones is the enormous amount of plastic we're using...

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