Editing Wharf

{{short description|Structure on the shore of a harbor or on the bank of a river or canal where ships dock}}
{{other uses}}
{{Redirect2|Quay|Wharves|other uses|Quay (disambiguation)|the song|Aethiopes (album){{!}}''Aethiopes'' (album)}}
[[File:Houston Ship Channel Barbours Cut.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Barbours Cut Terminal]] of the [[Port of Houston]], US. This cargo shipping terminal has a single large wharf with multiple berths.]]
[[File:Wharf Quay.jpg|thumb|Wharf under construction on the [[Upper Mississippi River|Upper Mississippi]] in [[Fountain City, Wisconsin]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.dvidshub.net/news/440977/fountain-city-service-base-mooring-system-gets-upgrade | title=Fountain City Service Base mooring system gets an upgrade }}</ref>]]

A '''wharf''' ({{plural abbr|'''wharves'''}} or '''wharfs'''), '''quay''' ({{IPAc-en|k|iː}} {{respell|kee}}, also {{IPAc-en|k|eɪ|,_|k|w|eɪ}} {{respell|k(w)ay}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quay |title=quay | work = Merriam-Webster Dictionary |publisher= Merriam-Webster, Incorporated |date= 31 August 2012 |access-date= 19 October 2012}}</ref>), '''staith''', or '''staithe''' is a structure on the shore of a [[harbour]] or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/quay | title=quay | work=American Heritage Dictionary | publisher = Dictionary.com, LLC | access-date=8 February 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/wharf | title=wharf | work =American Heritage Dictionary | publisher = Dictionary.com, LLC | access-date=8 February 2010}}</ref> Such a structure includes one or more [[Berth (moorings)|berths]] ([[Mooring (watercraft)|mooring]] locations), and may also include [[pier]]s, [[warehouse]]s, or other facilities necessary for handling the ships. Wharves are often considered to be a series of docks at which boats are stationed. A '''marginal wharf''' is connected to the shore along its full length.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://rusi-ns.ca/jetties-piers-wharfs/ |title=Jetties, Piers and Wharfs |date=2 June 2017 |website=rusi-ns.ca |access-date=30 May 2023 }}</ref>

==Overview==
[[File:Rinlo (RPS 24-07-2020) Muelle, señal de tráfico de peligro.png|thumb|Traffic sign: Quayside or river bank ahead. Unprotected quayside or riverbank.]]
A wharf commonly comprises a fixed platform, often on [[deep foundation|pilings]]. Commercial ports may have warehouses that serve as interim storage: where it is sufficient a single wharf with a single berth constructed along the land adjacent to the water is normally used; where there is a need for more capacity multiple wharves, or perhaps a single large wharf with multiple berths, will instead be constructed, sometimes projecting over the water. A pier, raised over the water rather than within it, is commonly used for cases where the weight or volume of cargos will be low.

Smaller and more modern wharves are sometimes built on flotation devices ([[pontoon (boat)|pontoons]]) to keep them at the same level as the ship, even during changing tides.

In everyday parlance the term ''quay'' (pronounced 'key') is common in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and many other Commonwealth countries, and the Republic of Ireland, and may also refer to neighbourhoods and roadways running along the wayside (for example, Queen's Quay in [[Queens Quay (Toronto)|Toronto]] and [[Queen's Quay, Belfast|Belfast]]). The term ''wharf'' is more common in the United States.  In some contexts ''wharf'' and ''quay'' may be used to mean{{clarify|reason=the lede says that they may include these|date=July 2019}} [[pier]], [[berth (moorings)|berth]], or [[jetty]].<ref>{{cite book | entry = wharf | title = Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus |edition=3 | year = 2013 | publisher = Philip Lief Group | url = https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/wharf}}</ref>

In old ports such as [[Port of London|London]] (which once had around 1700 wharves<ref name="craig">{{cite book |title=London's Changing Riverscape |last1=Craig |first1=Charles |last2=Diprose |first2=Graham | author2-link=Graham Diprose |last3=Seaborne |first3=Mike |year=2009|publisher=Frances Lincoln Ltd|location=London|isbn=978-0-7112-2941-9}}</ref>) many old wharves have been converted to residential or office use.

Certain early railways in England referred to goods loading points as "wharves". The term was carried over from marine usage. The person who was resident in charge of the wharf was referred to as a "wharfinger".<ref name = middleton>{{cite book | first1 = Vic | last1 = Mitchell | first2 = Keith | last2 = Smith | title = Branch Lines Around Bodmin | publisher = Middleton Press | location = [[Midhurst]], West Sussex | year = 1996 | isbn = 978-1873793831}}</ref>

==Etymology==
[[File:The Talbot Memorial Bridge from Custom House Quay - geograph.org.uk - 1725969.jpg|thumb|Quay in [[Dublin]], Ireland. The [[Irish language]] term ''cé'' is a borrowing from Anglo-Norman ''kay, cail''.]]

===Wharf===
The word ''wharf'' comes from the [[Old English]] ''hwearf'',<ref>{{cite web |last1=Harper |first1=Douglas |title=wharf |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/wharf |website=Online Etymology Dictionary |access-date=12 August 2021 |language=en}}</ref> cognate to the [[Old Dutch]] word ''werf'', which both evolved to mean "yard", an outdoor place where work is done, like a shipyard ([[Dutch language|Dutch]]: ''scheepswerf'') or a lumberyard (Dutch: ''houtwerf''). Originally, ''werf'' or ''werva'' in Old Dutch (''werf'', ''wer'' in [[Old Frisian]]) simply referred to inhabited ground that was not yet built on (similar to "[[Yard (land)|yard]]" in modern English), or alternatively to a ''[[terp]]''.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://gtb.inl.nl/iWDB/search?actie=article&wdb=ONW&id=ID3849&lemmodern=werf,%20Werf | title = werf, werva | language = nl | work = Historische woordenboeken, Nederlands en Fries | publisher = [[Dutch Language Union|Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal]] | access-date = 8 February 2020}}</ref> This could explain the name Ministry Wharf located at Saunderton, just outside High Wycombe, which is nowhere near any body of water. In support of this explanation is the fact that many places in England with "wharf" in their names are in areas with a high Dutch influence, for example the Norfolk broads.

===Staith===
In the northeast and east of England the term ''staith'' or ''staithe'' (from the Norse for landing stage) is also used. The two terms have historically had a geographical distinction: those to the north in the [[Kingdom of Northumbria]] used the Old English spelling ''staith'', southern sites of the [[Danelaw]] took the Danish spelling ''staithe''. Both originally referred to jetties or wharves. In time, the northern coalfields of Northumbria developed [[coal staith]]s specifically for loading coal onto ships and these would adopt the ''staith'' spelling as a distinction from simple wharves: for example, [[Dunston Staiths]] in [[Gateshead]] and [[Brancaster Staithe]] in [[Norfolk]]. However, the term ''staith'' may also be used to refer only to loading chutes or ramps used for bulk commodities like coal in loading ships and barges.

===Quay===
''Quay'', on the other hand, has its origin in the [[Proto-Celtic language]]. Before it changed to its current form under influence of the modern [[French language|French]] ''quai'', its [[Middle English]] spelling was ''key'', ''keye'' or ''caye''. This in turn also came from the [[Old Norman]] ''cai'' ([[Old French]] / French ''chai'' "wine cellar"),<ref name="quay" /> meaning originally "earth bank near a river", then "bank built at a port to allow ship docking".<ref>[https://www.cnrtl.fr/etymologie/quai CNRTL  (French)]</ref> The French term ''quai'' comes, through Picard or Norman-French, from [[Gaulish language|Gaulish]] ''caio'', ultimately tracing back to the Proto-Celtic ''*kagio-'' "to encompass, enclose". Modern cognates include [[Welsh language|Welsh]] ''cae'' "fence, hedge" and [[Cornish language|Cornish]] ''ke'' "hedge".<ref name="quay">{{cite web |last1=Harper |first1=Douglas |title=quay |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/quay |website=Online Etymology Dictionary |access-date=12 August 2021 |language=en}}</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery widths="200px" heights="150px">
File:Long wharf and shipping, by J.W. & J.S. Moulton.jpg|[[Stereoscope|Stereoscopic view]] of [[Long Wharf (Boston)|Long Wharf]] in [[Boston]], United States, {{circa|19th century}}, jutting into [[Boston Harbor]]
File:Boston Long Wharf 2.JPG|Modern view of Boston's Long Wharf (2006)
File:Brygga i Tønsberg.JPG|The Tønsberg City wharf in [[Tønsberg]], [[Norway]], is a popular tourist attraction, and its restaurants and pubs attract many visitors during the summer seasons.
File:Tokoinranta Helsinki.jpg|The shore of the Tokoinranta wharf in [[Hakaniemi]], [[Helsinki]], Finland (2007)
File:Wapping king henrys wharf 1.jpg|[[List of locations in the Port of London#Wapping and Shadwell|King Henry's Wharves]], typical London wharves converted to apartments
File:St Thomas Marriott Pacquereau Bay 1.jpg|Wharf by Marriott/Pacquereau Bay on [[Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands|Saint Thomas]]
File:tourist boat at sa calobra (majorca spain) arp.jpg|Tourist boat loading passengers at a small quay, [[Sa Calobra]], [[Mallorca]], Spain
File:Port Clarence drop (crop).jpg|Coal drops at [[Port Clarence]], Teesside, in 1915 (engraving by T. H. Hair)
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Bollard]]
* [[Canal basin]]
* [[Dock (maritime)]]
* [[Port]]
* [[Safeguarded wharf]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Wharves and quays}}
* {{wiktionary-inline|wharf}}
* {{wiktionary-inline|quay}}

{{Ports and harbors}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Wharves| ]]
[[Category:Freight transport]]
[[Category:Coastal construction]]
[[Category:Port infrastructure]]