jaque

jaque¹ padded jacket

Pronunciation

• /ʒak/^[1]

Forms

jaque or jacque m or f (plural jaques)^[2][3] Middle French jacque, jaques, jaique, jasque.^[4]

Etymology

The word for the padded jacket is inherited from Old French jaque,^[1] probably from French jacques (“peasant”), the nickname of the French peasant and especially of the peasants who rose in 1358 (the jacquerie), because this short, plain garment recalled the one peasants wore.^[2][3][5] Bloch and Wartburg explain the nickname by how common the personal name was among peasants.^[6] The FEW files the word under Latin Jacobus.^[7]

The REW derived it from Spanish jaco, itself from Arabic شَكّ (šakk, “coat of mail”);^[8][1] the TLFi rejects this on phonetic and historical grounds and holds that the French word is the source of the words in the other Romance languages.^[2][9][5] Littré had compared Italian giacco, German Jacke and Swedish jacka, left the origin open, and noted that Du Cange had already asked whether it came from the name of the rebels.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1364, in the plural jacques, in a sentence of the provost of Paris, for a short padded garment.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th and 15th centuries the jaque was a close-fitting padded doublet with sleeves, worn as a war garment by knights and, in place of armour, by their servants.^[11][12] From it came the diminutive jaquette (1374–1375), which outlived it: jaque is now only a term of costume history.^[5][6]

The phrase jaque de maille is found about 1534 in Des Périers for a coat of mail worn under armour by foot soldiers and archers.^[12][2] The Académie listed the word from 1694 to 1878, as a feminine noun from 1798; most 20th-century dictionaries give it both genders.^[2]

Timeline

• 1364 – First record, in the plural jacques.^[2][3]
• 1374 – The diminutive jaquete appears.^[5]
• c. 1534 – Des Périers writes of a jaque de maille.^[12][10]
• 1694 – Recorded by the Académie.^[2]
• 1798 – The Académie gives it as feminine.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (historical) A close-fitting jacket with sleeves, of leather or of padded and quilted cloth, worn by men in the 14th and 15th centuries; a gambison.^[12][13][14]
2. Jaque de mailles: a coat of mail worn under armour by foot soldiers and archers.^[2][12]

Word family

• jaquette

jaque² jackfruit

Pronunciation

• /ʒak/^[1]

Forms

jaque m (plural jaques)^[2][13]

Etymology

The word for the jackfruit is borrowed from Portuguese jaca, from Malayalam ചക്ക (cakka) or Tamil சக்கை (cakkai).^[1][2][3] The TLFi finds two waves: first through Italian texts (Old Italian ciccara, 1444 and 1510), which gave the short-lived Middle French forms chiacare (about 1525) and ciaquara (about 1540), then through the Portuguese word (recorded from 1535), which gave iaca (1553) and iaque (1611).^[2][5] The Grand Robert hesitates between Tamil and Malayalam and makes the Italian route only possible.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Chiacare is first found about 1525 in A. Fabre's French version of Pigafetta's account of the Spanish voyage to the Moluccas, for the fruit of the breadfruit tree.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In 1553 N. de Grouchy, translating Castanheda's history of India from Portuguese, wrote iaca and cited it as a foreign word;^[2][12] F. Pyrard used iaque in his account of a French voyage to the East Indies in 1611.^[2][12] The tree was named jaquier with the tree-name suffix -ier, first spelled jacquier (1688), then jaquier (1779); it has often been confused with the closely related breadfruit tree.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1525 – Chiacare, from Italian, in a translation of Pigafetta.^[2][5]
• c. 1540 – Ciaquara, in a translation of Varthema.^[2]
• 1553 – Iaca, from Portuguese, given as a foreign word.^[2][12]
• 1611 – Iaque in Pyrard's account of the East Indies.^[2][12]
• 1688 – The tree name jacquier appears.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (rare) The jackfruit, fruit of the jaquier, whose white, floury pulp is eaten cooked.^[2][13][14]

Word family

• jaquier