English
goffer
Goffer comes from French gaufrer ‘to stamp with a patterned tool’, from gaufre ‘honeycomb’, and ultimately from Old French walfre.
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400walfre
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600gaufre
- Frenchc. 1600–presentsame form‘honeycomb’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentgaufrer‘to stamp with a patterned tool’
- Englishearliest quotation 1985goffer
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400walfre
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600gaufre
- Frenchc. 1600–presentsame form‘honeycomb’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentgaufrer‘to stamp with a patterned tool’
- Englishearliest quotation 1985goffer
Earliest quotation: 1985, John Fowles: “On the back of a chair beside the bed…”
Linked words
through Proto-Germanic *wēbilǭ
Today it means
verb To make wavy; to crimp.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old French walfre / goffer