Editing Cockpit (section)

==Etymology== 
The word cockpit seems to have been [[cockpit (sailing)|used as a nautical term]] in the 17th century, without reference to [[cock fighting]]. It referred to an area in the rear of a ship where the [[cockswain]]'s station was located, the cockswain being the pilot of a smaller "boat" that could be dispatched from the ship to board another ship or to bring people ashore. The word "cockswain" in turn derives from the old English terms for "boat-servant" (''coque'' is the French word for "shell"; and ''swain'' was old English for boy or servant).<ref>Roderick Bailey {{google books|rPFMp0oWzCEC|Forgotten Voices of D-Day: A New History of the Normandy Landings|page=189}}</ref> The [[midshipmen]] and [[master's mate]]s were later [[Berth (sleeping)|berthed]] in the cockpit, and it served as the action station for the ship's surgeon and his mates during battle. Thus by the 18th century, "cockpit" had come to designate an area in the rear lower deck of a warship where the wounded were taken. The same term later came to designate the place from which a sailing vessel is steered, because it is also located in the rear, and is often in a well or "pit".<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title= Cockpit |encyclopedia= Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea|year= 1976|publisher= Oxford University Press|location= Oxford}}
</ref><ref name="Cockpit">Oxford English Dictionary online, [https://web.archive.org/web/20120801042626/http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/cockpit Cockpit].</ref><ref>S. A. Cavell {{google books|zoJ4B4nyS7oC|Midshipmen and Quarterdeck Boys in the British Navy, 1771–1831|page=12}}</ref>

However, a convergent etymology does involve reference to [[Cockfight|cock fighting]]. According to the ''Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology'', the buildings in London where the king's cabinet worked (the [[Treasury]] and the [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom|Privy Council]]) were called the "Cockpit" because they were built on the site of a theater called ''The Cockpit'' (torn down in 1635), which itself was built in the place where a "cockpit" for cock-fighting had once stood prior to the 1580s. Thus the word Cockpit came to mean a control center.<ref>Robert Barnhart, ''Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology'', New York: Harper Collins, 1995.</ref>

The original meaning of "cockpit", first attested in the 1580s, is "a pit for fighting cocks", referring to the place where [[cockfight]]s were held. This meaning no doubt influenced both lines of evolution of the term, since a cockpit in this sense was a tight enclosure where a great deal of stress or tension would occur.<ref name="Cockpit"/>

From about 1935,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-coc5.htm|title = World Wide Words: Cockpit}}</ref>{{citation needed|date=April 2014}} ''cockpit'' came to be used informally to refer to the driver's cabin, especially in high performance [[automobile|cars]],<ref>David Levinson and Karen Christensen {{google books|Q8NMAgAAQBAJ|Encyclopedia of World Sport: From Ancient Times to the Present|page=145}}</ref> and this is official terminology used to describe the compartment<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.formula1.com/en/championship/inside-f1/safety/cockpit-crash-tests/Cockpit_safety.html|title=Cockpit safety|website=Formula1.com|access-date=2019-04-02}}</ref> that the driver occupies in a [[Formula One]]<ref>{{cite news|last1=Richards|first1=Giles|title=FIA defends decision to enforce F1 halo cockpit protection device for 2018|url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/jul/22/formula-one-fia-defends-decision-halo-cockpit|access-date=30 August 2017|work=The Guardian|date=22 July 2017}}</ref> car.

In an [[airliner]], the cockpit is usually referred to as the ''flight deck'', the term deriving from its use by the [[Royal Air Force|RAF]] for the separate, upper platform in large [[flying boats]] where the pilot and co-pilot sat.<ref>{{cite news|title=Sunderland flying boat replica cockpit unveiled|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-39670012|access-date=30 August 2017|work=bbc.co.uk|date=21 April 2017}}</ref>{{clarify|date=August 2017}}<ref>
By David D. Allyn {{google books|MYJ5AQAAQBAJ|Yardarm and Cockpit Hardcover|page=225}}</ref>{{clarify|date=August 2017}} In the USA and many other countries, however, the term cockpit is also used for airliners.<ref name="Express">{{cite news|last1=Godfey|first1=Kara|title=FLIGHTS REVEALED: Pilot reveals what REALLY goes on in a cockpit...and it may surprise you|url=http://www.express.co.uk/travel/articles/809436/flight-secret-pilot|access-date=30 August 2017|work=The Express|date=25 May 2017}}</ref>

The seat of a [[Inshore powerboat racing|powerboat racing craft]] is also referred to as the cockpit.<ref>Bob Wartinger {{google books|jkCsAgAAQBAJ|A Driver's Guide to Safe Boat Racing (2008)|page=17}}</ref>