blousse

Forms

blousse f^[1][2]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[1][2] The TLFi suggests that it may be borrowed from Occitan blous, as in Mistral's lano blouso (“short wool”).^[1][3] This may be the same word as Old Occitan blos (“empty, bare, free of”), found in the 12th century in Pierre d'Auvergne, which would itself be borrowed from Old High German blōz (“naked”) (modern German bloß).^[1] The Grand Robert and the GLLF give the same chain, glossing the Provençal phrase as “stripped wool”.^[2][4] Hatzfeld called the origin unknown.^[5] The FEW lists the modern French word in its material under toison “fleece”.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1752, in the Supplement to the Dictionnaire de Trévoux, as a spinning term.^[1][2][4]

Semantic evolution

The Académie admitted it in 1762.^[5] Littré defines it as the coarse part of the wool in spinning mills, which the cylinders leave in the comb.^[7] The TLFi gives the sense “wool too short to be carded” and, by extension, all the waste collected when wool is combed, which is reworked in the carded-wool trade.^[1][2] Larousse extends it to the short fibres left from combing cotton and flax tow.^[3]

Timeline

• 1752 – First recorded in the Trévoux Supplement.^[1]
• 1762 – Admitted by the Académie.^[5]
• 1948 – A textbook of the clothing trades names the waste of the combing machine blousse.^[1]

Meanings

Noun

1. (spinning) Wool too short to be carded.^[1]
2. (spinning) The waste of short fibres removed when wool, cotton or flax is combed: la filature revend sa blousse.^[1][2][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
2. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
4. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c Hatzfeld, Adolphe; Darmesteter, Arsène; Thomas, Antoine (1890–1900), Dictionnaire général de la langue française du commencement du XVIIe siècle jusqu'à nos jours, Paris: Delagrave
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 22/1, 287a
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette