Bob, that's actually an interesting guess, and it has quite a few
arguments in support. And you did get my curiosity ignited...
The word does exist in Russian, but in all Russian sources (dictionaries),
its origin is attributed directly to French "epatage" (not even
epate). However, as you might know, in the 19's century, and beginning of
the 20's, Russian elite was speaking French (sometimes even better than
Russian). In the early 20's century, French was still popular in the arts
circles as well So, it is quite possible that the word occured in French
but in Russia.
After googling, I can trace that this word had been used at least in
1910-20's, - in application to Russian poets and artists, futurists and
minimalists.
The interesting thing is that it also appears (without any translation) in
some English-language books authored by English-speaking authors, - the
books on Futurism and Minimalism of early 20's century, primarily in
Russia. So, that's consistent with the hypothesis.
These books were published in the US between 1970s and 2014),
which suggests that this word has existed in English for at least 40
years, even though it is not a main-stream word. I wouldn't be surprised
that it came into English from Russian, with the associated artistic
culture.
As for the French dictionaries. I don't have access to any really big one,
but I was able to find this word in this online one (DVLF):
http://goo.gl/f4EHJJ
Finally, after all of this has been written (a few hours later - Bob,
I'll send you the bill! ;-)), I found a copy of a book titled:
"Argot and Slang -- A new French and English dictionary of the cant
words, quaint expressions, slang terms and flash phrases - used in the
high and low life of old and new Paris" by Albert Barrere, published
in London in 1889(!):
https://archive.org/stream/argotslangnewfre00barriala#page/n5/mode/2up
There, I founnd (p.132):
Epatage, m. (popular). See Epatement.
Epatement, m. (general), astonishment.
https://archive.org/stream/argotslangnewfre00barriala#page/132/mode/2up
So, despite its elegance, the hypothesis about the Russian origin of this
word is incorrect.
tl;dr summary: the word epatage is French, and it also used in English,
albeit not in the main-stream vocabulary.
Cheers,
Igor
Bob W Wed, 08 Apr 2015 12:24:05 -0700 wrote:
Actually I think it's a pseudo-French word invented by Russians. The
nominalisation of epater that is given in my Larousse dictionary is
epatement; epatage doesn't feature.
It's interesting that 'epater les bourgeois' or 'epater la bourgeoisie' is
a well-known phrase in English, referring to the use of art to shock, but
I once used it in a conversation with a French art historian and she
claimed never to have heard it before, and found it very amusing. Perhaps
it was my pronunciation.
B
-----Original Message-----
From: PDML [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Igor PDML-StR
Sent: 08 April 2015 19:54
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: PESO 2015 - 048-052 - GDG
Sorry, it is a French word, and I've heard it in English, but possibly from
people familiar with French.
In the article linked by Godfrey, (2) and (6) are the primary attributes of
"epatage" behavior applicable to Warhol.
Igor
PS. I'm glad I inadvertently provoked your curiosity. ;-)
Godfrey DiGiorgi Wed, 08 Apr 2015 10:10:37 -0700 wrote:
I was also curious so I did a Google search.
http://armene.com/item/epatage.html
It's an unusual word in the English language.
G
> On Apr 8, 2015, at 9:52 AM, John <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> What is "epatage"?
>
> It's a new word for me, and it's not in any of the online dictionaries
> I
use.
>
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