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I'm struggling to turn up any answers on why the word スタンド is used to mean
"desk lamp". My guess would be that it's a case of metonymy, but I don't know.
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2014-10-16T21:18:44.717
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2014-10-16T21:45:45.867
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question
etymology
What is the origin of スタンド meaning "desk lamp"?
It's short for 電気【でんき】スタンド, which we can see in [sense ② in
Daijirin](http://www.weblio.jp/content/%E3%82%B9%E3%82%BF%E3%83%B3%E3%83%89):

> ②「電気スタンド」の略【りゃく】。

Here, 略 means "abbreviation". And of course, 電気{でんき} means both "electricity"
and "[electric] light". Why does 電気 have this meaning? Well, most dictionaries
don't say, and I suppose _this_ could be simple metonymy, but when we look up
電気 in 日本国語大辞典, we find:

> ③（「⇨でんきとう（電気灯）の略）電灯{でんとう}。

So we could consider スタンド as indirectly short for 電気{でんき} "electric" 灯{とう}
"light" スタンド "stand".
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2014-10-16T21:45:45.867
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2014-10-16T21:45:45.867
19132
answer