LL-L: "Etymology" [E] LOWLANDS-L, 03.JUN.1999 (01)

[Lowlands-L Administrator]

 ==========================================================================
 L O W L A N D S - L * 03.JUN.1999 (01) * ISSN 1089-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
 Posting Address: <lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org>
 Web Site: <http://www.geocities.com/~sassisch/rhahn/lowlands/>
 User’s Manual: <http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8c/userindex.html>
 ==========================================================================
 You have received this because your account has been subscribed upon
 request. To unsubscribe, please send the command "signoff lowlands-l"
 as message text from the same account to
 <listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org> or sign off at
 <http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html>.
 ==========================================================================

From: Ted Harding <Ted.Harding at nessie.mcc.ac.uk>
Subject: Etymology

> From: EoganOg at aol.com
> Subject: "plaid"
>
> Hello all.  I have a question that I hope some of you could help me
> with.  I had always assumed that the Scots (and English) word "plaid"
> or "plaide" came from the Gaelic word for "blanket."  It has been
> recently suggested to me that in fact the Gaelic use of "plaide" for
> blanket came from the Scots word for the tartan wrap, not the other
> way around.  A freind cited the CSD as listing the use of plaid
> meaning the tartan wrap as 17th cent., while the use of the word to
> mean a blanket came much later.  Can anyone shed any light on
> this word's origins and history.
>
> Matt Newsome

True enough, the CSD says:

1. A rectangular length of twilled wolloen cloth ... formerly worn as
an outer garment ... 16th C -  2. The wolloen cloth of which plaids are
made 16th-19th C  ... [apparently originally Scots > Gaelic "plaide",
perhaps a participle of "ply"].

However, there may be the makings of a wee tangle here. I hope I'm not
muddying the water.

Consider "plait" (also "plat"), as in hair: a pleat or zigzag fold;
a braid in which strands are passed over one another in turn.
As verb: To "pleat"; to braid or intertwine. [Etym: Old French "pleit",
"ploit"; French "pli". From Latin "plicare" (to fold); "plicatum"].
Could possibly be used to refer to a method of making cloth, and to
the cloth itself: consider "twill" (Scots "tweel"), a woven fabric
showing diagonal lines, the weft yarns having been worked over one,
and under two or more, warp yarns.

If there is a lineage O.Fr. "pleit" -> En. "plait"/Scots "plaid" it
wouldn't be the first time Scots got a word from French.

Ted.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding at nessie.mcc.ac.uk>
Date: 29-May-99                                       Time: 16:56:27
------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------

==================================END=======================================
 * Please submit contributions to <lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org>.
 * Contributions will be displayed unedited in digest form.
 * Please display only the relevant parts of quotes in your replies.
 * Commands for automated functions (including "signoff lowlands-l") are to
   be sent to <listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org> or at
   <http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html>.
 * Please use only Plain Text format, not Rich Text (HTML) or any other
   type of format, in your submissions
 ========================================================================