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The primary (British English)  definition of fix is to make
stationary. I am fairly sure the connotation of repairing something
(other than something like a bone which is repaired by immobilisation,
as in mend)  is relatively recently appeared in the UK and was perhaps
already common in north America before it migrated. Certainly as a
child growing up in Berkshire and Oxfordshire in the 60s and 70s if
you said fix when you meant mend you would sound a bit American.  I
don't have the OED to hand but I am fairly sure the dates of examples
will confirm my claim (although on the other hand my memory is
thoroughly fallible!)

So in navigation fixing your position probably had no connotation of
repair and was entirely about it being at a fixed time. But of course
it might help some people to remember it!

Now when I learnt Navigation as a child (by the way back then a kid
was definitely a young goat and not a human!) we used a + for DR a
triangle for an EP and a circle with a dot in for a fix (I expect most
navigators still do), but what do you call all these approximate
positions?   Now I think about it as an an adult mathematicians they
are all estimates of position at a time with varying uncertainty.
From a statistical point of view we would regard them as estimates of
a random variable from observations.

Perhaps I am destined to call them different things depending on what
hat I wear (and how cocked it is).

Bill Lionheart


On Mon, 3 Dec 2018 at 21:02, Frank Reed  wrote:
>
> Tony, you wrote:
> "It just occured to me: the "fix" word in CN context means "to repair a DR position". "
>
> Heh. That's clever! From the point of view of historical origin in English, 
it's probably not quite right, but at least it's a good mnemonic --a way to 
"fix" the meaning of the word in your memory.
>
> See how I used "fix" there? This is another meaning of the word in English, 
distinct from "repair". If I set or or settle or stabilize something, I can 
say that I have "fixed" it. This is not the same meaning as to repair, but 
it's very close to the navigational meaning. The word "fix" has been in 
English for the better part of a millennium. It was probably one of the 
earliest borrowing from Norman French in the decades after 1066. Since it's 
an old word and a short word, it has developed quite a few related meanings.
>
> There's a nice dictionary entry for the word "fix" at merriam-webster.com. 
The navigational sense of "fix" is part of definition 3 of the verb in their 
listing. Fixing the date of an event (def. 3a) is very similar to our 
navigation sense of fixing our position at sea. In fact, they give this as a 
distinct meaning (def. 3b):
> " to make an accurate determination of: DISCOVER
>    // fixing our location on the chart ".
> And separately, the noun "fix" is defined and includes the navigation sense as a top-level meaning:
> " the position (as of a ship) determined by bearings, observations, or radio
> also : a determination of one's position "
>
> Sometimes new students do puzzle over the word "fix" wondering why they call 
it that. But it's not really an obscure usage. It's common English, but a 
secondary sense of the word. Comparing with "fixing" the date of an event is 
probably a good way to make it clear. I haven't tried this but I will the 
next time someone asks. I'll also suggest your idea of "fixing" being like 
"repairing" the DR since that would certainly help some students.
>
> Frank Reed
>
> 

   

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