galoshes and rubbers and overshoes, oh my

[Victor Steinbok]

Has anyone bothers with the OED? Rubbers and pantofles are both defined
as "overshoes or galoshes", literally.

Pantofle

> ... also applied to outdoor overshoes or galoshes. ...

Since this one is quite old (at least the 15th century) and the part
before also and after the period mostly applied to slippers, it's not
entirely clear when this word was used for "overshoes or galoshes".
Furthermore, the etymology stops with Middle French, although I suspect
some Arabic and/or Turkic influence (of course, I see Middle Eastern or
just plain Eastern influence in a lot of things, so I could just be wrong).

Rubber, n.1

> 14. a. In /pl./
> (a) orig. /U.S./ Overshoes or galoshes made of rubber.

This one is from 1834. Note "US".

Galosh/golosh n.

> 1. b. In later use: An over-shoe (now usually made of india-rubber)
> worn to protect the ordinary shoe from wet or dirt. ‘Rare in U.S.’ (
> /Cent. Dict./).

This one from 1373 (thanks to Fowler). And it exhibits something very
much related to "rubbers"-- "Rare in U.S.". If one is "orig. U.S." and
the other "rare in U.S.", then it stands to reason that they really do
represent the same thing. It really doesn't matter if neither regional
restriction applies any longer ("galoshes" seems to have been popular in
US fiction and in film at least since the 1930s). There is also a
Russian equivalent ("galoshi", if Wilson wants to know), that applies
strictly to rubber overshoes that are worn over felt winter boots
("valenki"). Specifically, they are no more than ankle height--kind of
like the rubberized yellow or black soles (loosely speaking) bonded on
many winter boot models in the US these days--it seems you can't go into
a discount store (or even a fashionable store sometimes) these days
without seeing a pair. What's above the rubberized part depends on the
particular model--it could be high or low-quality leather, canvas
(sometimes rubberized), vinyl or just about any other material that shoe
uppers can be made from.

Oddly enough, "Dutch galoshes" appears to have a single citation from
a1687 and then is listed as obsolete. Sounds like lazy editing.

In any case, the distinction between rubbers and galoshes, as far as the
height is concerned, seems to be a late and artificial addition and even
then likely limited as it may appear this way to some and not to
others--could be a classic Labov distribution.

VS-)

On 6/7/2012 5:27 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
> On Thu, Jun 7, 2012 at 1:34 PM, Joel S. Berson<Berson at att.net>  wrote:
>> Does anyone besides me associate "rubbers" with ankle-height and
>> "galoshes" with something more like boots?
> I do, though there seems to be a difference of opinion as to the exact
> definition of _ankle-height_. I think that Joel pictures this as "the
> point more-or-less immediately below the ankle," as do I, in this
> case. And:galoshes are, indeed, more like boots, to the extent that
> they are definitely fashioned so as to cover the ankle completely and,
> perhaps, a bit of the calf. However, it's been so long since I've
> dealt with galoshes that, the last time that I looked - some time
> prior to 1950 - they had "Dot Snapper"-brand snaps and not zippers.
> I've always considered "rain boots" to be only a more-stylish kind of
> galoshes for girls and women.
>
> As for "rubbers," in addition to being another word for "overshoes,"
> they are, for me, specifically a kind of overshoe designed to be worn
> over pumps. They cover only the toe and the back of the shoe itself
> and not its (high) heel.
>
> At that time - During The War - and in that place - Saint Louis -
> galoshes were worn by all, overshoes only by males, rubbers and rain
> boots only by females.
>
> At one time, I labored under the mispreapprehension that the singulars
> of words like "peaches" and "galoshes" were "peach[@]" and
> "galosh[@]."
>
> Youneverknow.
>
> --
> -Wilson

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org