Etymograph

English

gauffer

Gauffer comes from French gaufrer ‘to figure cloth, velvet, and other stuffs’, from gaufre ‘honeycomb, waffle’, and ultimately from Old French walfre.

  1. Old Frenchc. 842–1400walfre
  2. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600gaufre
  3. Frenchc. 1600–presentsame form‘honeycomb, waffle’
  4. French, derivedc. 1600–presentgaufrer‘to figure cloth, velvet, and other stuffs’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1861gauffer

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Old Frenchc. 842–1400walfre
  2. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600gaufre
  3. Frenchc. 1600–presentsame form‘honeycomb, waffle’
  4. French, derivedc. 1600–presentgaufrer‘to figure cloth, velvet, and other stuffs’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1861gauffer

Earliest quotation: 1861, Isabella Beeton, London: S[amuel] O[rchart] Beeton: “Into the hollow cylinder a red-hot iron is pushed,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Germanic *wēbilǭ

waffle, 1 more

Today it means

verb To plait, crimp, or flute

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Old French walfre / gauffer

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