Turnpike

When on a road trip, my mind wanders and I tend to think of questions, sometimes related to the place I'm driving through.

Have you ever wondered what "turnpike" means? Here's what etymonline has to say:

early 15c., "spiked road barrier used for defense," from turn + pike (n.2) "shaft." Sense transferred to "horizontal cross of timber, turning on a vertical pin" (1540s), which were used to bar horses from foot roads. This led to the sense of "barrier to stop passage until a toll is paid" (1670s). Meaning "road with a toll gate" is from 1748, shortening of turnpike road (1745).

The upshot of this etymology is that if we were to transport the original turnpikes to the present day, they would be used to keep cars (horses) off of foot paths, since it was only later they were used to create toll-ways.

It reminds me of the use of bollards these days, especially retractable ones, which sometimes catch drivers who try to go places where they are not supposed to... and the results are sometimes captured on video.

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Side note: The word "turn" is very strange. Sure, there's the rotate meaning. But then there's turned milk,  turn away from or turn toward, turn into something, turn down (both to reject or to get a bed ready for sleeping), turn up (arriving or to be found), turn about, turn loose, turn in (such as a found object, or going to sleep for the night), turn your stomach, turn up your nose, doing a good turn...