Some Memories of Germany, Castles, Part 8

I took a Rhine River cruise at some point in the second half of the 1980s. If I remember correctly, it was termed something like "the Rhine castles tour," as it went past numerous castles that had been built along the river hundreds of years ago, and some are in ruins, while others are used for tourism or for other purposes. They were built to provide protection for their owners and their lands, but also so the owners could extort ... I mean, make money from them, by providing protection for travelers, especially traveling merchants, who were highly vulnerable to the robbers of those days; I mean, the robbers outside the castles, the "robber barons" were inside, as all were nobles. The owners often charged tolls and duties on travelers for passing through their lands, or for transporting certain goods. Some German emperors (Kaiser) did crack down, although the practice took quite some time to die out, but the growing use of cannons made the castles far less secure. Some castles were also built right along rivers to give their owners and imperial officials the ability to control river traffic, and thus collect tolls for boats and ships seeking passage. One of the most famous castles along the Rhine River is the one built in the 1300s near the town of Kaub, and known as the "Burg Pfalzgrafenstein" (Burg=fortified castle, see picture below).* A heavy chain was kept stretched across the river to prevent boats and ships from being able to pass without first paying the toll. Cannons were later added to the castle's means of extortion, I mean, protection. Not far away, but on more elevated terrain with a better view of the river, is another castle called "Gutenfels." It supplemented the river castle to be certain tolls were paid. (You can click on the individual pictures below to enlarge them )

* German "Burg" is closely related to English "borough." See this article for information on the words "borough/burg," "weir," and "town:" http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2009/06/some-english-words.html 

This is the "Burg Pfalzgrafenstein" near Kaub, Germany.

 The tour boat.

 A little closer view.

 I don't have notes on what each of these pictures shows, as to name of the castle or to its location.

 The castle tower in the distance.

 The castle is sort of hidden in the hillside.

 In the distance.

 This picture and the next are of the same castle, but at slightly different angles.

Some campers below this castle, shrouded in some fog.

WORD HISTORY:
Flood-This word goes back to Indo European "plew," which meant "flow." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "flotuz," ^ which meant "flowing water, surge of flowing water." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "flod," which meant "tide, overtaking of land by water." Originally the "o" was long, but over time it softened in sound to the point where it was spelled "ou," before the modern double "o." The verb form was derived from the noun in the 1600s. The other Germanic languages have: German "Flut" (flood, high tide), Low German Saxon "Floot" (flood, tide), West Frisian "floed" (flood, high tide), Dutch "vloed" (flood, high tide), Norwegian "flod" (flood, tide), Danish (river, flood), Swedish "flod" (river, flood), Icelandic "flóð" (ð=th, flood, tide).

^ The change of Indo European "p" to Germanic "f" was a common occurrence.