Spade

A spade is a tool primarily for digging or removing earth and fixing soil. Early spades were made of riven wood. After the art of metalworking was discovered, spades were made with sharper tips of metal. Before the introduction of metal spades manual labor was less efficient at moving earth, with picks being required to break up the soil in addition to a spade for moving the dirt. With a metal tip, a spade can both break and move the earth in most situations, increasing efficiency.

Etymology

"tool for digging," Old English spadu "spade," from Proto-Germanic *spadan (cognates: Old Frisian spada "a spade," Middle Dutch spade "a sword," Old Saxon spado, Middle Low German spade, German Spaten), from PIE *spe-dh-, from root *spe- (2) "long, flat piece of wood" (cognates: Greek spathe "wooden blade, paddle," Old English spon "chip of wood, splinter," Old Norse spann "shingle, chip;" see spoon (n.)).

"A spade differs from a two-handed shovel chiefly in the form and thickness of the blade" [Century Dictionary]. To call a spade a spade "use blunt language, call things by right names" (1540s) translates a Greek proverb (known to Lucian), ten skaphen skaphen legein "to call a bowl a bowl," but Erasmus mistook Greek skaphe "trough, bowl" for a derivative of the stem of skaptein "to dig," and the mistake has stuck [see OED].

Tarka the Otter (film)

Tarka the Otter is a film released in 1979, based on the novel of the same name by Henry Williamson. Tarka the Otter was voted 98th in Channel 4’s poll of the 100 Greatest Family Films.

Production

The role of Tarka was played by an otter called Spade.

Tarka and me (a ripple of ancient sunlight)

The principal animal handler for the film, Peter Talbot, published an e-book called 'Tarka and me' with the sub-title 'a ripple of ancient sunlight'. The sub-title alludes to Williamson's view of nature being uniquely connected by this story to that of Gavin Maxwell. Talbot trained at the Otter Trust under Philip Wayre. In 1976, he was invited by film producers David Cobham and Bill Travers to hand rear a baby otter called Spade for the title role. The Author's note for 'Tarka and me' explains... "...A little over ten years ago I was contacted by a Channel 4 researcher who had been tasked with investigating a classic old animal film called Tarka the Otter. I was puzzled why and he told me that film had just won an award in a family movie category but, finding nothing written anywhere about the animals in the film, he had noticed my name on the credits. A year or so later I heard the sad news that another of my friends, from the Tarka period, had fallen silent and the shock prompted me into a decision to write it all down. The story belongs to them. It happened over a period of two years in the latter part of nineteen seventies whilst filming Henry Williamson’s classic novel. The film featured an otter called Spade as Tarka in real-time as he grew up and, for the duration as his minder, Tarka the Otter became a way of life for us both..."

Spade (disambiguation)

A spade is a digging and gardening tool.

Spade or Spades may also refer to:

Arts and entertainment

Places

People