fez

Forms

fez m (invariable)^[1]

Etymology

It is from French Fez, the name of the city in Morocco where this cap was made and whence it was exported to most Islamic countries.^[2][3][4][5] The word was first used in a phrase meaning “cap of Fez” (1664), then on its own.^[2][3] Wiktionary and Etymonline instead derive the word from Ottoman Turkish فس (fes), the Turkish name of the cap, which Etymonline in turn traces to the city's name.^[1][6]

The English word fez (1802) is borrowed from French.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In 1664 the traveller Jean de Thévenot describes the Barbary corsairs wearing a bonnet de fez that ended in a point like a steeple, with a large turban around it.^[7][2]

Semantic evolution

In 1697 Herbelot wrote that the cap called a bonnet de Fez in France was called Fas or Fassi in Turkey.^[7] The noun on its own is first recorded as Fes in 1677, in Vansleb's account of Egypt, for caps priced by the dozen, and with the final ⟨z⟩ in 1679, in Savary's Parfait Négociant, of caps made in Tunis.^[7][2] The DHLF and the Grand Robert cite an earlier fes of 1672.^[3][8] Bloch and Wartburg date the spelling fez to 1787, in Peyssonnel, a consul at Smyrna, and the word is first found without a typographic mark or gloss in 1792.^[4][7] The cap was part of Ottoman official dress, and it is still worn in North Africa and the Near East.^[6][9][2]

Timeline

• 1664 – Thévenot writes bonnet de fez.^[7][2]
• 1677 – Vansleb uses Fes alone for the cap.^[7][2]
• 1679 – Savary writes Fez.^[7][2]
• 1792 – First used without a mark or gloss, in the Mercure de France.^[7]
• 1802 – English borrows the word.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fez, a stiff cap shaped like a truncated cone, usually of red felted wool, often with a tassel, worn in North Africa and the Near East and once by the Turks.^[2][9][10]

Related words

• chéchia
• English fez

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
3. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Steinfeld, Nadine; Buchi, Éva, eds. (2005–), TLF-Étym: révision des notices étymologiques du Trésor de la langue française informatisé, Nancy: ATILF
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)