English
poudrette
Poudrette comes from French poudre ‘powder’, and goes back to Latin pulvis.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpulvis‘dust, powder, ashes’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEpulvera
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400poudre‘powder’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentsame form‘powder’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentpoudrette
- Englishearliest quotation 1843same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpulvis‘dust, powder, ashes’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEpulvera
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400poudre‘powder’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentsame form‘powder’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentpoudrette
- Englishearliest quotation 1843same form
Earliest quotation: 1843, Edward Condict, Poudrette as a Manure: “Mr. Edward Condict, of Morristown, New Jersey, under date…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *pel- ‘dust’
film, felt, simple, simply, push, complain, filter, fold, pulse, repeal, flaw, compulsive, pollen, expel, palpable, palladium, palate, propel, palatable, repel, pall, pelt, wallow, peloton, polemic, tuple, palatal, muffle, peplum, palp, pollinate, pillion, apoplexy, interpolate, 62 more
through Latin pulvis ‘dust, powder, ashes’
through Old French poudre ‘powder’
Today it means
noun A solid powdered agricultural manure prepared by composting human feces (night soil from outhouses and dry closets) by mixing it with various other ingredients (e.g., ground gypsum, lime, ashes) and then aging and drying the result.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin pulvis / poudrette