What's up with the "Spyder" Thyng?

[SquareWheel]

Thys myght fall under the same heading as Red State vs Blue States...

Ys yt a Fiat Spyder or is it a Fiat Spider?

[Curly]

Spyder is generally used in reference to those rear engined German cars, and I believe Spider is the agreed up form used by Italian manufacturers, although Ferarri has gone with the Y on a number of occasions.
When looking to secure a personalised number plate for my CS1 most of the SPYDER, SPIDER, SPIDA ect. plates were already in use, so I settled for SPYDUH which I have since been told is the phonetic spelling

[Danno]

I don't know if this means a thing (I'm one of those "it's spIder" people), but I just noticed that on the yellow timing belt cover I have it has a sticker that says "Spyder" Don't know if it's original or not, but I can't imagine that it's not. Also, don't know if it came from the factory with it, or if it was put on in the states.

very possibly could have been put there as a replacement to the original cover if they broke the original when changing the belt at some time. Replacement part companies are notorious for screwing up things like spellings.

[KillerB]

Main Entry:
spi·der Listen to the pronunciation of spider
Pronunciation:
\ˈspī-dər\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
Middle English spyder, alteration of spithre; akin to Old English spinnan to spin
Date:
15th century

1 : any of an order (Araneae syn. Araneida) of arachnids having the abdomen usually unsegmented and constricted at the base, chelicerae modified into poison fangs, and two or more pairs of abdominal spinnerets for spinning threads of silk for various uses (as in making cocoons for their eggs or webs to catch prey)

I think spithre, spinnan are to obscure to use... and arachnid is too long for a license plate (Except euro plates). The only foreign translations I like are Rango (Italian), Aranha (Portuguese), and Araña (Spanish). My fav being Latin, Aranea... I think Fiat Aranea has a nice ring to it. Or you could nerd-out and call your car Shelob.

[So Cal Mark]

I've seen a few of those timing belt covers with the Spyder spelling, but all of the documents from Fiat always use the Spider spelling.

[HOLLYWOODSPIDER]

I read on the 'net somewhere that the name "Spider" came from the Italians' misspelling of the word "Speeder."

I read somewhere else on the 'net that the name originated in the days of the horse drawn carriage or buggy. There were several styles, such as the Landau (fixed roof over the back, open up front), Phaeton (completely roofed) and Spider (convertible). The "Spider" name was descriptive of the wooden, multi-limbed apparatus that held the leather or waxed cotton roof material.

German, English and also japanese companies tend to use "Spyder," (see Eclipse Spyder and Porsche Spyder).

Perhaps Ferrari uses "Spider" on cars marketed mainly to the US, and "Spyder" on cars marketed mainly abroad.






There is no definitive answer on the topic, and neither form is technically incorrect. You can find parts for our cars listed either way on Ebay, although there are roughly 10 times more people spelling it "Spider."

[124cso]

Danno, you will see that so cal mark has commented re the timing cover stickers, but i'll add that my Canadian New ( metric speedo version) has that sticker (white on red with white border) also.

I don't know if my car had ever had a belt replaced before I bought it, but all the tin sheilds are there, whereas others i've seen have had them removed / lost.

Secondly, I doubt that the spider/spyder thing is based upon a mis-spelling. Remember that in the early days, Fiat's main market was export and they were advertising spiders back in the 1920's with 503's & 509's. Agnelli set-up Lingotti after visiting Henry Ford and getting the low-down. They understood english o.k., they weren't just greasey wops !
You could start the same sort of endless arguement over Coupe too - In refined circles a coupe plate is for eating your pudding out of !

[HOLLYWOODSPIDER]

I was in no way implying that italians are greasy wops. I hope that nobody took it that way. I love italians, their cars, art, people, and especially food.

It's not that improbable that the word could have come from a misspelling/mispronunciation. That's how language evolves. That's why you'll see words in different languages that have almost identical spellings and meanings, just off by a letter or two. It's from one culture co-opting another's word, and eventually changing the spelling to suit the rules of their language. Also, you'll notice that over time, spellings change. An irritating, web-age example would be "cool" morphing into "kewl" in the past 10 years. Makes me sick.

It would not be unlikely for a speaker of Italian to phonetically spell "speeder" as "spider", since the double "e" is almost unseen in their language, as well as most other latin-based languages.

I had to study origins of language when I was on the spelling-bee circuit as a student.

[124cso]

Nah ! You'll be struggling to convince me it's derived from a horse drawn or other vehicle called a Speeder.
Anyone know of any 'speeders' from days gone by ?
We have Roadsters, Phaetons, Runabouts, Drop-heads, Cabriolet ( from Handsoms cab days) Town-cars, Pullmans, but up unitl the recent days of toyotas, I've never seen a speeder. I don't think they even had speedwagon fire engines till much later.
Ever thought that perhaps someone thought an early open sports looked like a spider ?
They used to call Ford Model T's "mechanical cockroaches" for that reason , with it's high body and gangly suspension!

But hey, the question was "is it an I or a Y ? "

[HOLLYWOODSPIDER]

Look it up on the net yourself. I didn't make this stuff up. I learned the info while researching the history of the 124.
Also, I offered 2 different findings to demonstrate that there is conflicting information on the subject.

And the question was answered. It's both. There is no correct spelling. The Italians originally spelled it with a 'y.' It wasn't until the '60s that they began to use "y" as well.

I'm anxious to see the results of your search for the origins of the word in its' automotive context. My offerings came from genuine research on the net. I don't think it's any more likely that it's from someone thinking a car looked like a spider than it is from any other origin.

Also, a Coupe plate describes any rimless porcelain ware with a shallow bowl form. There are Coupe plates, Coupe bowls and Coupe platters.

[124cso]

You may not have made it up but there is a whole lot of crap out there. Check your own posting for errors too.
Now, let's drop it there.

[HOLLYWOODSPIDER]

Dropped. Let us know if you do find the actual origin.