easel

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈiː.z(ə)l/ (UK); /ˈi.zəl/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Dutch ezel (“ass; easel”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} inherited from Middle Dutch esel,^[2][3][4][5] which comes from Latin asinus (“ass”)^[3][4][5] or from its diminutive asellus.^[2][3][6] It is related to Old English esol (“ass”).^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A wooden frame that supports a picture while it is being painted.^[7][4]

Semantic evolution

The frame was named after a donkey bearing a load,^[4] just as French chevalet and Italian cavalletto compare it to a little horse,^[4] and as English horse names a vaulting frame.^[2] The OED also records the easel as the typical instrument of a painter, standing for painting itself.^[7]

Timeline

• 1596 – eazill;^[3][5] Etymonline gives the 1590s, RHWU 1625–35,^[4][6] and the OED's first quotation is from 1634.^[7]
• 1838–9 – the easel as the emblem of a painter.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An upright frame, usually three-legged, for holding or displaying something, such as an artist's canvas or a blackboard.
2. (photography) A frame that holds photographic paper flat during enlarging.

Word family

• easeled

Related words

• ass
• sawhorse

References

1. [1] Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. [1] [2] [3] [4] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. [1] [2] [3] [4] Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. [1] [2] [3] [4] Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press