16. Cockpit instruments Do you know why the pilot's area in a plane is called
the cockpit?
The first known reference to the term quot;cockpitquot;
comes from the rather barbaric sport of
cockfighting and refers to the pit in which the
fights occurred.
In particular, the word cockpit was used to
describe the pit around the stage in a theater
containing the lowest level of seats, as
illustrated by this passage from William
Shakespeare's quot;Henry V.quot;
Can this Cock-Pit hold
The vastie fields of France? Or may we
cramme
Within this Wooden O, the very Caskes
That did affright the Ayre at Agincourt?
However, the more direct linkage to your question comes
from the use of the term cockpit to refer to a
compartment below decks on a British naval vessel
beginning around 1700.