English
farthingale
Farthingale comes from Spanish verdugo ‘rod’.
- Spanishc. 1500–presentverdugo‘rod’
- Spanish, derivedc. 1500–presentverdugado
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600verdugale
- Englishearliest quotation 1603farthingale
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Spanishc. 1500–presentverdugo‘rod’
- Spanish, derivedc. 1500–presentverdugado
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600verdugale
- Englishearliest quotation 1603farthingale
Earliest quotation: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes […]: “women […] make trunk-sleeves of wyre and whale-bone bodies,…”
The story
Hobson-Jobson of earlier forms vardingale, etc., borrowed from Middle French verdugale, from Spanish verdugado, from verdugo (‘rod’).
Linked words
through Latin viridis ‘green’
Today it means
noun A hooped structure in cloth worn to extend the skirt of women's dresses; a hooped petticoat.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Spanish verdugo / farthingale