Mechanical Engineering: Rudiments, Rude Mechanicals and Some Personal Ramblings
by Dr. Colin G. Black, Mechanical Engineering Department, Asian University.

Mechanical engineering, as the name suggests, is the specific field of engineering that deals primarily with things mechanical ; this, perhaps, then begs the question: what do we mean by things mechanical? Any standard English dictionary [e.g. 1] will at least offer us something like the following three definitions: (i) belonging to or concerning machines or mechanics; (ii) worked by, or performed with, machinery or a mechanism; or (iii) said of an action or movement, etc: done without or not requiring much thought. The first two definitions imply the involvement of machines or mechanisms, whilst the third definition represents the figurative usage of the word for some task or action that is soulless, repetitive or undemanding beyond the constraints of some fixed operation; in other words, “machine-like”. The word “mechanical” entered the English language in the 15 th Century, and is derived from the Latin mechanicus and ultimately the Greek mechane [e.g. 2], both meaning a contrivance or a machine. Of course, the connection, and similarity, between the words mechanical and machine is no great revelation or surprise, but before we consider what is meant by a machine it is interesting to analyze the Thai word for mechanical engineering : ... Click here to continue reading (pdf file).