A little fun with old-fashioned hat terms – Part Two – Renaissance Europe to 1799
Some obscure and unusual words come to light when reviewing the history of hats and headdresses. Having recently finished reading THE PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN (by Simon Winchester, HarperCollins 1998) on the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, I thought it would be fun to explore the definitions and etymology of some of these old terms, most of which have all but disappeared from modern use. [I’ll breakup this project into three or four parts, so stay tuned.]
To qualify for inclusion below, the word must appear with a wavy red line in Microsoft Word’s “spell check” tool. So here it goes:
Ferroniere
[Fr. ferronnière, a frontlet; a coronet worn on the forehead: after Leonardo da Vinci’s portrait La Belle Ferronnière.]
(See diary 1960.)
1840 THACKERAY in Fraser’s Mag. June 681/2 The sisters…in pink scarves…and brass ferronières…were voted very charming. 1908 HC SMITH Jewelry xx. 172 This headdress is known as a ferronière. 1960 H. HAYWARD Old Coll. 117/1 Ferronière, a chain worn as an ornament that surrounds the head with a jewel in the center.
good grace
Obs.
[a. F. bonne-grace ‘th’ vppermost flap of the down-hanging taile of a French-hood (whence belike our Boon-grace)’ Cotgr.; f. bonne good, grace grace.]
1. A shade or curtain formerly worn at the front of women’s hats or caps to protect the complexion from the sun; under the sun (See quot. 1617; the latter consequently may belong to 2.)
1530 PALSGR. 907 The grace of the bone, the moufflet. 1533 Pardoner & Fr. in Hazl. Dodsl. I. 203 His bongrace that he used, with his French hood, When he always went out to sunbathe. 1595 R. WILSON Pedlar’s Prof. Bij, Steaks and Bungraces. 1604 DEKKER King’s Entert. 311 This grace-gift he made for the purpose of protecting his face from the heat. 1617 MORYSON Itin. third IV. i. 170 A French shade of veluet to defend them from Sunne, which our Ladies of old borrowed from the French, and called them Bonegraces, now wholly out of place with us. 1636 DAVENANT PLATO. Lovers Weeks. (1673) 411 If he had been old enough to use a Bongrace.
fig. 1609 HEYWOOD BRITISH. Troy VI. civil. 137 A grove through which the lake runs, Making its arches a Good Grace of the Sun.
2. A fitted wide-brimmed hat to shade the face. bow. or Obs.
1606 NETHERLANDS Sueton. 75 A wide-brimmed hat [marg. or Bond-grace = petasatus] Above his head. 1638 Songs Costume (1849) 140 The straw hats will be no more thanks, From the bright sun to hide their faces. 1719 Pills D’URFEY (1872) IV. 107 His Bongrace of wened Straw. 1815 SCOTT Guy M. iii, an old-fashioned bonnet called a bon-grace.
3. ‘Junk fenders; to unstick obstacles from the sides or bow of a ship. Smyth Sailor’s Word-bk.
Huke
Obs. ex. history
[a. OF. huque, heuque a kind of cape with a hood; in med.L. huca (13th c. in Du Cange), MDu. hûke, hôike, heuke, Du. huik, MLG. hoike, LG. hoike, heuke, heike, hokke, hök, E.Fris. heike, heik’, haike, hoike. Ulterior origin obscure. See also HAIK1.]
A kind of cape or cloak with a hood; ‘an outer garment or cloak worn by women and later by men; it was also later applied to a close-fitting dress worn by both sexes’ (Fairholt’s Suit).
1415 in Test of Nicholas. Vestust. I. 187, I will make all my hope lands [and] huykes not covered, will be divided among the servants. 1418 EE Wills (1882) 37 Also a Hewk de grene and another melly departed. 1423 ALREADY. I Kingis Q. xlix, An huke sche had vpon hir tissew quhite. c1440 [see HAIK n.1]. a1529 SKELTON E. Rummyng 56 His huke of Lyncole grene. 1530 PALSGR. 231/1 Hewke a garment for a woman, surquayne, dress. Ibid. 233/1 Huke. 1616 BULLOKAR, Huke, a Dutch garment covering the head, face, and entire body. a1626 BACON New Atl. (1627) 24 A messenger, in a rich Huke. a1657 LOVELACE Poems (1864) 210 Like ladies in the land of Luyck, He wears his eternal huyck. 1694 Ladies of Dunton Dict. (N.), The German virgins … put on a plain or simple garment, as in some places they call huk. 1834 JR British PLANCHE. Costume 181. 1852 CM YONGE Cameos (1877) II. xxxv. 370 When he wasn’t wearing armor, he was wearing an embrace, or a body-hugging dress.
b. Applied to Arabic. haik: see HAIK2.
1630 J.TAYLOR (Water P.) Weeks. (n.), the richest guy [of women] Doe weare a huicke, which is a cloth or cloth-covered tunic, and the top is gathered and sewn in the form of an English potlid, with a tassel at the top. 1660 F. BROOKE tr. Trav de Le Blanc. 269 (Cairo) They [ladies] They all go masked and covered with a Huke that hides their faces.
Therefore Huke v. trans., to cover with or as with a huke; to watch over, to cover up
1613 H. KING Halfe-pennyw. Ingenuity (ed. 3) Ded. (N.), I’m going to… throw a light veil of immaculate feigned good intention over him, to mask him and mask him from public shame.
love padlock
[f. LOVE n.1 + LOCK n.1]
A curl of a particular shape worn by courtiers at the time of Elizabeth and James I; then any curl or braid of hair of a peculiar or conspicuous character.
1592 LYLY Midas III. ii. 43 Will you have… your loue-locke topped with a silk braid, or shaggie to fall on his shoulders? 1628 PRYNNE (title) The beauty of love lockes. 1840 MARRYAT Poor Jack i, Lovelocks, as the sailors call the curls they wear at their temples. 1894 A. GRIFFITHS Secrets Jail Ho. II. IV. ii. 63 Bandoline, which he used to make locks of love to adorn his forehead and temples.
transfer 1886 MAXWELL GRAY Silence Dean Maitland I. i. 12 each [cart-] the horse wore its mane in locks of love.
source
[Fr. fontange, f. Fontanges the territorial title of a mistress of Louis XIV.]
A tall headdress worn in the 17th and 18th centuries.
1689 SHADWELL Bury F. 11, What are you missing, ladies? fine mazarina Hoods, Fontanges, Belts. Spect. 1711 ADDISON. No. 98 1 These old-fashioned Fontanges raised an Ell over their heads. 1883 FG STEPHENS Cat. British Prints. Mus. IV. 282 An ugly one-eyed old woman at a fontange.
big
[a. F. béguin child’s cap. See BEGUINE, note.]
1. A child’s cap.
1530 PALSGR. 198/1 Byggen for a attention from chyldes, beguyne. 1532 MORE Confused. Tindale Weeks. 577/2. 1639 MASSAGER Unnat. Fight IV. ii, would you make me transform my hat into double whacks and biggings? 1755 Connoisseur No. 80 (1774) III. 71 So much stock of loincloths, caps… biggens… as to set up a rest hospital. 1819 SCOTT Ivanhoe xxviii, My brain has been backwards… ever since the Biggin was first strapped around my head.
Cadogan
[Said to be from the name of the 1st Earl Cadogan (died 1726). See Littré, and N. & Q. 7th Ser. IV. 467, 492.]
A way of knotting hair behind the head.
c1780 B’NESS OF OBERKIRCH Mem. (1852) II. ix, The Duchess of Bourbon had presented at the court of Montbéliard..[the fashion] of cadogans, hitherto worn only by knights.
Toupee
[a. F. toupet (tup ) tuft of hair, esp. over the forehead, deriv. (in form dim.) of OF. toup, top, tup, tuft of hair, foliage, etc.; ad. *LG. topp- = OHG. zopf top, tuft, summit; cf. OFris. top tuft, top, ONorse toppr top, tuft, lock of hair: see TOP n.1]
1. = TUPE.
1729 Art of politics 10 Do we believe that modern words are eternal? Toupet and Tompion, Cosins and Colmar From now on they will be called by some common man A wig, a watch, a pair of corsets, a fan. 1818 SCOTT Rob Roy vi, These fadeurs, which every gentleman with a toupet feels obliged to recite to an unfortunate girl. 1863 Cornh. eighth magazine. 395 Wigs are dangerous unless stated frankly. A toupee can easily escape detection.
b. transfer = TUPE b. Obs.
1728 FIELDING Love in Sev. Masks for the hair., From you then you hairpieces awaits defense. 1748 RICHARDSON Clarissa Weeks. 1883 VII. 495 A pair of brocade toupets or lace-up vests… with half-fucked sour faces.
2. The forelock of a horse or other animal (obs.); thick hair (in quotes, from a black man).
1797 Sports magazine. X. 295 The Tuft or Toupet, that part of the mane which lies between the two ears. 1834 SOUTHEY Doctor iii. (1862) 5 Some of the inhabitants of the Congo make a secret fob in their woolen toupet.
3. attrib., as toupee-coxcomb, -man, -wig; toupet-titmouse, the crested chickadee.
1731 MOD. hub. I. ix, I find nothing but a bundle of toupet coxcombs, who stick their brains on their wigs. 1748 RICHARDSON Clarissa (1811) VII. saw. 35 No mother cheek-man; but all manly. a1784 Pennant Arct. zoo (1785) II. 423 Titus. Toupet..Long feathers on the head, which occasionally erect into a pointed crest, like a toupet. 1884 E. YATES Rec. & Expert. II. 238 A neatly trimmed toupee wig.
Therefore toupeted nonce-wd. (tu ptd, tu pe d) a., with toupet.
1903 Smart Set IX. 2/53 We went in to have dinner with the hairy colonels.
kevenhüller
Obs.
[f. the name of the Austrian general, Andr. von Khevenhüller (1683-1744).]
has. attribute Applied to a tall rooster attached to a wide-brimmed hat worn in the mid-18th century. (see Fairholt’s Costume in Eng. (1860) 299); therefore also with a hat. b. absolute. A rooster of this form; a hat cocked this way.
1746 British. magazine 309 A lace-up hat pinched into what our Beaux have learned to call the Kevenhuller Rooster. 1750 COVENTRY Pompey Lit. II. IV. (1785) 58/1 Jockey boots, Khevenhullar hats, and trainer’s whips. 1753 Proc. Common Sense Commission (Fairholt I. 377) Isn’t the Dettingen rooster forgotten? the noble Kevenhuller discouraged? 1762 London. Chrono. XI. Hats (Planchè) chapter, hats are now worn, on average, six and three-fifths inches wide at the brim and tipped between Quaker and Kevenhuller.
Nivernois
now hist.
[Dormeuse
[Fr.; fem. of dormeur sleeper, applied to articles convenient for sleeping, f. dormir to sleep.]
1. A hood or nightcap. Obs.
1734 MRS. DELANY Vida y Corr. (1861) I. 479, I have sent you… a sleeping chief. 1753 Let. Ms. Rocío at Life & Corr. 260 She still hadn’t been able to get his dormouse.
2. A travel carriage adapted for sleeping.
1808 Mr. WILMOT Jrnl. August 16 (1934) III. 363 We started at the Dormeuse with 4 horses in the background and two in front. 1825 VISC. S. DE REDCLIFFE in SL Poole Life (1888) I. 357 The two dark green carriages, a Dormeuse and a Britchka, which you saw… at Windsor. 1841 LYTTON No. & Morning. (1851) 216 A dormino and four approached the door of the inn to change horses.
3. A kind of couch or couch.
1865 OUIDA Strathmore I.vi. 94 (Stanf.) She lay down on a sleeper in front of the fire.
Fred Belinsky
http://www.VillageHatShop.com