An archaic or obsolete term for a rudder or steering mechanism, especially of a ship.
From Old French 'gouvernail', derived from Latin 'gubernare' (to steer or govern). The word is essentially obsolete in modern English, replaced by 'rudder'.
Governail is a beautiful example of how technical vocabulary changes—we still use the Latin root 'govern' for control, but 'rudder' (from Old Norse) is what we call the steering device instead!
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