I had always imagined a windlass was something vaguely nautical, and as something so technical I could never possibly understand it — an obscure type of sail, perhaps — both of which notions are totally fatally wrong, I find today.
I also supposed that the name was derived from wind, the airy noun, not from wind, the revolving verb, which is also wrong, though the noun and verb are themselves related.
.i`` * ^ / . . . . . ` `~ 