The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-23
THE LANGUAGE OF DRESS
DERIVATIONS OF THE NAMES OF
CLOTHES AND THEIR MATERIAL.
A Chapter OF Curious chronological
Lore Which Casts Light on Many
Terms in Common Use.
New York Evening Post.

New York Evening Post
Ruskin seems to have recognized the i'm
portance of clothes as showing the progress
of civilization, although he always asso-
ciated dress with women. He said: Next
to the gentleman's game of hunting we
must put the ladies' game of dressing. 1t
is not the cheapest of games" Formerly
in barbaric times, as has always been the
case in the animal world, it was the male
that played this snowy and expensive
game. Man, it may be said with due mod
esty. has finally civilized himself beyond
feathers and ffnery. These are no longer
regarded as necessary or in good taste in
the highest civilizations. Only when man
reverts to the savage habits of war or the
chase, and becomes a soldier or police
man, is it necessary to assume some badge
of dress or some of the cast-off finery of
semi-barbarism. The game" is now left
entirely to the ladies'
1t seems all the more remarkable that the
history and significance of clothes have not
been treated of, when it is observed that
both their origin and their meaning are
conveyed in the very language of dress. 1t
has been assumed that every word means
something, is not mere jargon to which
some meaning has become attached, and
If it be traced far enough, or questioned
closely enough will disclose it's own his
tory. This seems especially true with re-
spect to the names of our garments and
the materials from which they are fash
Toned. Hence it is possible to learn from
the name of every garment, and of almost
every material of which clothes are made,
the men who first wore it, the country or
locality in which it originated, or the per-
son or town that first manufactured or in
PRODUCED it.
Silk which is one of the most royal of
fabrics, Is also one of the oldest. The west
ern world received it from China, where it
had been used for unknown ages. Its West
ern name, serious is taken from 'seres,'
the Roman name for the people who lived
on the plains of Sericaha,
where Chineses drive
With sails and wind their cany wagons
light
Serge is etymologically the same word, as
it also comes from serious" Satin too,
means silk, as it is derived from the low
Latin 'Setinus' of silk.
After the fabric and its name had been
introduced in Europe local names sprang
up to indicate different varieties of silk,
which were also, for the most part first
manufactured in the East. "Taffeta" has
been referred to the name of a quarter in
Bagdad, called Atab or Atabiya where the
SILK manufacturers had congTegated. While
II seems extremely probable that the Tab
BY, or notified cat. can claim it's origin
in the proud city of the Califs. this common
derivation OF the name, applied to a fash
ionable kind of silk, is, unfortunately not
so poetic. Taffeta is a strong silk, woven
with a peculiar twisting of the threads
and its name is traceable to the Persian
word tafta" from "taftan," to twist
Moire or MOreen silk also came from the
East, and was introduced by the AIOOrS as
its name plainly indicates. Damask reveals
Its origin in Damascus Surah silk came
from Surat, India; and Paduasoy, or Padua
SILK, great faVorte in the courts of Eu-
rope two centuries ago, is merely a variety
first manufactured in Padua, after Pied,
mont became the silk-producing region of
ORIGIN OF FABRICS.
The origin of different fabrics can gen.
orally be traced to one of the three great
seats of trade and manufacture during the
middle ages. Industries, as civilization it
self, came from the East The great intel
lectual awakening of the East, under the
stimulus of Arabic culture and luxuriance
was accompanied by a corresponding awak-
ening in all branches of industry and trade
Bagdad, during the benefcent reign of
Harun-al- Rashid, became the seat of lux
ury and the intellectual and literary cap
ital both of Islam and of the world. Thence
the Industrial and fine arts were trans
ferred by Saracen and Moor and Osmanli
to the two eXtremitieS of Europe. When
MOslem industries began to Wane thew
were succeeded by those of Flanders and
the latter were. in turn, succeeded by those
established centers of manufacture in med
iaeVal times. Other localities, such as
many in France, Spain and England are
well known FOR their commercial activity,
but they were rot in a large sense origins
of modern manufacture and trade.
To the earliest of these industrial seats,
the Mohammedan empire, with Bagdad as
its center, may be traced a large number
of the fabrics now in use. This city, as has
been seen, soon became the mart of silk
manufacturers. 1t also attracted the COM
merce OF other cities and countries, and
served as a perpetual bazaar or fair for the
Interchange of trade between the East and
the West. Muslin is a word that we get
through the French ''mousseline" which in
dictates that the fabric was first made in
Mosul, a city on the Tigris, not far from
Bagdad while "baudekin, the rich en-
broidered silk that was once used by kings
the califS itself Gauze is supposed to have
come from GAIA, and 'sarceLet' clearly
shows by its name that it was brought into
Europe by the Saracenic invaders of Spain
and Sicily. Cashmere, as it is called when
worn by the ladies, or cashmere as it is
known when worn by men, was brought
from the valley of Kashmir, and nankeen
came from Marking, the southern capital
of China. Calico first came from Calicut,
although it is now sold there by the enter
prising English mills. The same Saracenic
torch bearers of science and the arts
brought with them from Fostat, the old
name of Cairo. and now suburb of that
city, the famous fustian that has played
such a conspicuous part in the history of
textile fabrics and in the language of meta
SO named from the city of Jaen. one of the
Moorish capitals in Spain. They also de-
ViSed the glorieS of COrdoVan leather, in
which Miles Standsh and a thousand other
buclkram warriors delighted.
SOUTHEY'S NOTION.
Southey, who was a better poet than ety.
mologist, wanted to credit the Saracens
with the introduction of merino, deriving
the name from the title of the Moorish
chief "emir." This fanciful etymology has
not been accepted as the name of the fab
ric is merely the name of the Spanish
ity has been conjecturally derived from
Damietta. but the word has a scientific
origin. 1t is a cloth woven with two
threads, and the name is formed from two
Greek terms (dis and mitos) Two WELL
known English fabrics were named in
similar manner-twill and drill-one woven
with two and the other with three threads.
successors to the industrial dominion of
the Arabs and Moors. The looms of Elan
ders were whirring for more than a CEN
fury in advance of those of future Man
chesters and Leedses. We should know
this even if history were unWritten, by
calling over the names of the fabrics and
stuffs now in daily use. Our bingham came
originally from the town of Guingamp in
French Flanders, Galloon, which means
WALTON lace, as also Valenciennes and
Mechln laces, came from the same region.
Cambria comes from Cambray; the French
still call it ''tolle de C8mbray. Frieze
cloth come from Friesland, Brussels car
pets, "arras, and "Iisle thread" all have
a common home among the Flemings.
very large group of words has been
traced, probably without sufficient reason,
to the early settlement of colonies of Fem-
ish weavers in Normandy along the river