Take Our Word For It NOE No. 20
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**Greetings**
We're ba-ack! This NOE was due to be published on Sunday, but Topica
has been down for days and we had to do some research to find an
alternative. We are trying out Google Groups, and so far we like what
we see! Let us know what you think.
**This Week's NOE (Newsletter-Only Etymology)**
Joel, who says his company (Christy Towels) is the oldest towel
manufacturer in the world, asks about the etymology of "terry", as in
"terry towelling" (or, in the U.S., "terry cloth"). The OED tells us
that it is unknown whether the adjective or the noun version of "terry"
came first. If the adjective was the first form, it is thought that it
came from French "tiré" "drawn" (from "tiroir", to draw or pull), in
reference to the drawn "loops" of thread that make terry cloth so soft
and absorbent. The noun form of the word first appears in the written
record in 1784, and the adjective in 1835. Arthur Miller, the American
playwright who died just a few days ago, used "terry" in his "Misfits"
of 1961: "He turns and sees Roslyn in a terry-cloth robe emerging from
the bedroom doorway."
What about "towel" itself? Joel probably knows whence it comes, but
how about the rest of us? It is a surprisingly old word.
Interestingly, English took it from Old French before 1300, as
"towaille", but the word is ultimately Germanic in origin, the
hypothetical Germanic root being "*thwahljo". This gave rise to Old
High German "dwahan"/"twahan" "to wash" (cognates are Old Scandinavian
"thwahan", Gothic "þwahan", and Old English "þwéan", all meaning "to
wash, and Gothic "þwahl" "washing" - remember that þ is the letter
"thorn", which represents an unvoiced "th" sound, as in "thorn"). From
the Old High German "dwahan"/"twahan" came "dwahilla" "cloth for
washing/wiping" (and then Middle High German "dwahele" and "twähele",
and German dialectical "zwehle" "napkin"). As mentioned, the Old French
form, which donated the word back to Middle English, gave rise to the
Romance forms of "towel": French "touaille", Provençal "toalha",
Catalán "tovalla", Spanish "toalla", Portuguese "toalha", Italian
"tovaglia", and medieval Latin "toacula" or "toailla". The modern
English form "towel" first appears in the written record in the 17th
century.
**Laughing Stock**
We need more funny stuff!
**Next Issue**
We plan to have a new issue of TOWFI next weekend.
**Your Letters**
We are still catching up on letters. Keep 'em coming!
Until next time,
Take Our Word For It!
Melanie and Mike
http://www.takeourword.com
http://www.takeourword.com/indexmac.html