Ladies - try medieval Flemish or Breton for a source. Just a suggestion. Julain Wilson
--- On Mon, 18/1/10, Sharon Collier <[email protected]> wrote: From: Sharon Collier <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [h-cost] The term "hennin" To: "'Historical Costume'" <[email protected]> Date: Monday, 18 January, 2010, 23:31 My French dictionaries say "henne" (should have an accent on the second E) means "henna", while "hennir" means "to neigh or whinny" (like a horse). Don't know if that helps at all. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Robin Netherton Sent: Monday, January 18, 2010 2:08 PM To: Historic Costume List Subject: [h-cost] The term "hennin" I've been asked about the origins of the word "hennin," commonly used today for a range of 15th-century tall headdresses. I was surprised that the OED doesn't trace it back any further than the 19th c., but the OED is notoriously bad with clothing terminology, and I don't have access at the moment to the MED. Does anyone have anything more concrete -- either an MED reference, or any citation to an actual 15th c. inventory or other document that uses the term? The person who asked me was taught (quite some time ago) that it was a derogatory term used to criticize women's headdresses, but I am skeptical of the story she was told. However, it's certainly not unprecedented for 18th and 19th c. costume "historians" to pick up the wrong word from historical references and establish it as the going term for a garment, or to make up a term that gets entrenched in the literature. --Robin _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
