bouquet and bosquet antedating 1706

victor steinbok aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM
Sun Apr 3 04:38:39 UTC 2011


Picking up a word from WOTD again.
bouquet 1.a. 1717 --> 1706
bosket, bosquet 1737 --> 1706
Both are combined in the same passage that's published in two
different edition with two distinct authors. Plagiarism was rampant in
1706 London.
Antedating both bouquet and bosquet.

http://goo.gl/YTSGA

The Retir'd Gard'ner. By George London and Henry Wise. Vol. II. London: 1706
Chapter 11. p. 744

> /Bosquets/ seem to be the same with /Bouquet/ a Nosegay ; and I am apt to believe the Gardners mean nothing else by that Word, for in effect a Work of this nature is a sort of green Knot, form'd by the Branches and Leaves of the Trees that compose it, and are lay'd close one upon another.

http://goo.gl/5YT9h
Le jardinier solitaire, The Solitary or Carthusian Gard'ner, being
Dialogues Between a Gentleman and a Gardner. ... Also The Compleat
Florist. By Louis Liger d'Avxerre. London: 1706
Chapter 11. p. 454

> /Bosquets/ seem to be the same with /Bouquet/ a Nosegay ; and I am apt to believe the Gardners mean nothing else by that Word, for in effect a Work of this nature is a sort of green Knot, form'd by the Branches and Leaves of the Trees that compose it, and are lay'd close one upon another.

I pasted the first text from the "plain text" copy in GB and I typed
the second one directly. As you can see, they are identical.
"Carthusian" also appears to be used in non-literal sense, which is
not covered by its OED definition.
Other definitions for "bouquet" are somewhat limited. Bouquet 2. only
applies to wine: "The perfume exhaled from wine." (1846-1876) That
seems to be somewhat shallow, as "bouquet" is used for any perfumy,
flowery aromas or flavors, including--Duh!--perfume. Aside from wine
and perfume, it may apply to tea, coffee, gourmet dishes, also to
combinations of colors that may be reminiscent of flower bouquets. In
fact, occasionally, you hear a reference "floral bouquet" for
something quite distinct from flowers. (e.g., http://goo.gl/oWutZ ,
http://goo.gl/YkDej , http://goo.gl/zRibl ) All of these may well have
been derived from the use of the word with wines. Or there may be
another reason.
>From an edition of the 1666 Diary of Samuel Pepys, published not later
than 1893 (possibly earlier, Cassell's National Library edition, no
publishing date on the volume). Obverse of the title page has an ad
for Colgate's Cashmere Bouquet Perfume:

Colgate & Co.'s
Cashmere Bouquet
Perfume
for the Handkerchief
Cashmere
Bouquet
is composed of the
most fragrant and costly
extracts from flowers.
Each bottle
bears the name and trade mark of
Colgate & Co.
Soap Makers
and Perfumers;
New York.

In this case, the trademark "Cashmere Bouquet" is reinforced by an
image of a woman with a flower basket. But it's quite clear that the
usage is already a twist on the original meaning of "bouquet" and is
applied to perfume. I am not suggesting that this is a part of
alternative usage--the word is a part of a trademarked product name,
so it's hardly indicative how it's used. But it does suggest possible
meaning transfer to things /other than wine/.
Note, also, that attributive usage of "floral bouquet" is very
distinct and common--there is no need for an image of an actual
"bouquet" in the motif (see the last of three example links above for
a "floral bouquet" dress). All that's needed is images of flowers on
quilts, wallpaper, porcelain, crochet, etc.

VS-)

PS: The definitions of "bouquet", "nosegay" and "posy" are somewhat
circular, although they do include "[small] bunch of flowers". Is a
floral wreath an example of one of these? Is a bunch of scattered
flowers on a flat surface one of these?

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