serviette

Forms

serviette f (plural serviettes)^[1] Middle French also serviete.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from French servir + -ette, properly a cloth that one uses.^{[3][4][3][5][1]} The TLFi gives the suffix as -iette.^[4] The verb is from Latin serviō (“to be a slave, to serve”), from servus (“slave”).^[6] Bloch and Wartburg compare the similar formations oubliette and essuette “towel”, recorded in the 15th century.^[6] Littré, following Diez, mentions a derivation from a participle (Old Occitan servit, Italian servito), but himself preferred to see it, like serviable, as formed on a false stem of servir.^[2] The derivation is no longer felt by speakers.^[7]

Compare Spanish servilleta and Italian salvietta, whose forms Littré and Etymonline take as signs of folk-etymological change.^[2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1328, in the documents published by Varin, for a cloth used to wipe oneself, at table or in washing.^[3][5][9] The TLFi's first record is from 1361, in the same sense of a cloth used at table or for washing.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word replaced touaille (about 1155, from Frankish), whose English descendant is towel.^[7][6][4] In the 14th century the Ménagier de Paris already mentions petites serviettes for the dessert.^[2] From 1580 to the 18th century it also named such a cloth folded as a bandage, and after about 1630 a place setting at table.^[7] In slang it meant toilet paper (1789).^[7]

In lawyers' slang of 1840 it came to name a flat bag for carrying papers, the modern briefcase sense.^[7][9][3] Serviette de toilette is recorded in 1857 and serviette de table in 1875,^[4] serviette-éponge in 1890,^[7] and serviette hygiénique in 1934.^[4] The proverb il ne faut pas mélanger les torchons avec les serviettes (“don't mix the dishcloths with the napkins”, do not treat unequal things alike) is recorded in 1964, after an older il ne faut pas mêler… in 1933.^[3]

English took the word as serviette “table napkin” in the late 15th century, at first mainly in Scotland, and reintroduced it from French in 1818.^[8]

Timeline

• 1328 – First recorded, for a cloth for the table or for washing.^[3][5]
• 1361 – The TLFi's first record of the same sense.^[4]
• 1580 – Used of a folded cloth serving as a bandage.^[7]
• c. 1630 – Used for a place setting at table.^[7]
• 1789 – Slang sense “toilet paper”.^[7]
• 1840 – Lawyers' slang uses it for a briefcase.^[7][9]
• 1857 – Serviette de toilette is recorded.^[4]
• 1890 – Serviette-éponge “terry towel” is recorded.^[7]
• 1934 – Serviette hygiénique is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A table napkin, used to wipe the mouth and protect one's clothes during a meal: serviette de table.^[4][10][9]
2. A towel for drying the body: serviette de toilette, serviette de bain, serviette de plage.^[9][10]
3. Serviette en papier: a paper napkin.^[9][3]
4. Serviette hygiénique: a sanitary pad, worn during menstruation.^[9][10]
5. A briefcase, a flat bag with compartments and a handle for carrying papers and books.^[9][10]

Word family

• serviette-éponge
• porte-serviettes
• rond de serviette

Related words

• servir
• serviable
• touaille
• Latin serviō

Usage notes

Rond de serviette is a napkin ring.^[9][1] The proverb il ne faut pas mélanger les torchons avec les serviettes warns against treating people or things of different worth alike.^[9][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)